BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Two 16-year-old boys are facing murder charges in the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man in Birmingham’s Ensley neighborhood earlier this month, authorities said.
The Birmingham Police Department said officers were called about 1:30 p.m. Feb. 3 to the 1400 block of 29th Street Ensley, where they found an overturned vehicle with an unresponsive man inside. Birmingham Fire and Rescue pronounced him dead at the scene, and the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office later determined he had been shot. The victim was identified as 20-year-old Carlton Octavius Duncan.
Police said the department’s Crime Reduction Team arrested two teenage boys on Feb. 4, within about 48 hours of the killing. Because of their ages, authorities did not release their names. One 16-year-old is charged with capital murder and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm, and the other is charged with felony murder and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm, police said.
Both teens are being held in the Jefferson County Jail without bond. Police described the swift arrests as part of an ongoing push by the Crime Reduction Team to target repeat offenders and violent crime hot spots in west Birmingham.
Investigators have not publicly released a suspected motive in the shooting. Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Birmingham Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 205-254-1764 or to leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.