A 42-year-old man shot during a home invasion in June and a 24-year-old man gunned down outside his apartment in August remain Birmingham's two most stubborn open homicide cases, and police say they still need the public's help to crack them. Both suspects fled before officers arrived, and both cases remain unsolved months later.
Cornelius Parker was killed on June 23, 2026, after North Precinct officers were dispatched to the 800 block of Sixth Street West just before 10 p.m. following a report of a person shot, according to AL.com. Officers found Parker wounded inside an apartment; he was taken to UAB Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just under two hours later. Birmingham Police Sergeant LaQuitta Wade said the victim was inside his home when a suspect entered demanding money, and the two men became involved in an altercation before the suspect fired shots that struck Parker and then fled before police arrived.
A Second Killing Two Months Later
Just over a month after Parker's death, 24-year-old Da'vione Adams was shot to death on August 5, 2026, in the breezeway of his second-floor apartment at The Park at Sunderland complex on Valley Crest Drive. East Precinct officers were dispatched just after 8:30 p.m. that evening to a report of a person shot and found Adams wounded outside his residence; Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced him dead at the scene, per the same AL.com account. Sergeant Wade said the preliminary investigation indicates Adams was standing outside his residence when an unknown assailant approached and opened fire before fleeing the scene.
In the days after the shooting, East Precinct officers canvassed the apartment complex searching for surveillance footage and witnesses, as reported by ABC 33/40. Funeral services for Adams were later held on August 15, 2026, at Gospel Tabernacle Church in Selma, followed by interment at Sandridge Baptist Churchyard Cemetery, according to an obituary posted on Legacy.com.
What the Law Says About Parker's Case
The circumstances of Parker's death carry particular legal weight. Under Alabama Code § 13A-5-40, a homicide committed during a burglary or robbery inside a residence is classified as Capital Murder, carrying mandatory penalties of death or life imprisonment without parole, according to The People's Defender. Separately, Alabama's felony-murder statute under Code § 13A-6-2 permits prosecutors to charge any co-conspirator or accomplice in an armed burglary or robbery with murder if a victim is killed, even if that person did not fire the fatal shot, according to Grainger Hawley & Shinbaum Legal. Whether any additional participants were involved in Parker's killing has not been disclosed.
A City With Fewer Homicides, But More Cases to Close
Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett, appointed to the permanent post by Mayor Randall L. Woodfin in April 2025 after serving as interim chief, said investigators have recorded 34 homicides in 2026 and reported a 91 percent clearance rate so far this year. “We want to secure justice for the victims' families,” Pickett said, adding that the department's goal is to solve every single homicide that occurs.
The appeal comes as Birmingham works to shed its reputation from 2024, when the city recorded a record 151 homicides, the deadliest year in its 91-year recorded history, according to AL.com's prior reporting. The city has since reported a 35.1% drop in homicides through the first half of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, and a 70% drop compared to 2024, per the Alabama Political Reporter. City leaders attribute the decline in part to $16.1 million drawn from reserve funds for a recruitment and retention plan that restored the police department to 100% budgeted staffing, as detailed by The Trace.
That staffing restoration, combined with a homicide clearance rate now above 90%, has freed up detective bandwidth to keep pushing on older, unresolved cases like Parker's and Adams's, according to Wisevoter. Still, both investigations remain stalled without identifying information on the suspects who fled each scene.
How to Submit a Tip
Anyone with information on either case is asked to call Birmingham police detectives at 205-254-1764. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777; Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama offers cash rewards up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest or charge in felony homicide cases across eight Central Alabama counties, independent of the police department itself.
