CARBON HILL, Ala. — A kicked-in door, a burst of gunfire and a fleeing pickup truck left one woman dead and police searching for her alleged accomplice after a reported home invasion in Carbon Hill. Authorities later took Dustin Patrick Tucker, 38, into custody, police said.
Tucker was taken into custody Oct. 16, two days after a homeowner fatally shot 32-year-old Kenya Pugh during the alleged break-in on Seventh Avenue Northwest. Pugh also went by Kenya Davis, according to police.
The shooting unfolded around midday Oct. 14, a day after the same homeowner reported being burglarized. Carbon Hill Police Chief Paul Anderson told WBRC the homeowner had taken the day off work because of the earlier burglary.
Police said Pugh and Tucker kicked in the home’s door, prompting the homeowner to grab a gun and open fire. The homeowner told investigators he fired about seven or eight rounds, according to AL.com. WVTM reported that several shots also struck a neighboring home and a car.
Anderson told AL.com he arrived within five minutes and found Pugh dead on the back porch. The homeowner had placed his gun on a nearby barbecue grill and was standing with his hands raised, the chief said.
Tucker left in a Ford pickup truck, according to police. Anderson identified him as Pugh’s boyfriend and said everyone involved knew one another.
Before Tucker was taken into custody, Anderson told WVTM that Tucker had contacted him and agreed to come in for questioning Oct. 16. Police confirmed that afternoon that he was in custody.
Pugh’s relatives have questioned whether the shooting was justified. Her aunt and grandmother told WVTM she was shot in the back and said they wanted answers about her death. Their account of where she was struck was not independently established in the reports reviewed for this story.
“I just want justice for her kids. She has two kids. I just need some answers,” the relatives said in WVTM’s report.
Anderson separately told AL.com that Pugh had a pocketknife in her waistband. The published accounts reviewed did not establish that she used or displayed it during the encounter.
The chief linked the incident to broader concerns about theft and drugs in Carbon Hill, but acknowledged uncertainty about what the pair allegedly intended to take.
“Nobody but those two know exactly what they were after,” Anderson told AL.com. “I hate that young lady lost her life.”
For all the details that might sound like a small-town crime yarn, Anderson said the consequences were anything but lighthearted — including for the homeowner who fired the shots.
“I don’t want another citizen of mine to have to pull a gun and pull a trigger on somebody,” Anderson told AL.com. “That man is going to have to live with it the rest of his life.”