Samuel Arthur Shelby, a 32-year-old Black man from Birmingham, Alabama, was killed in the early hours of Monday, December 20, 2010. Police responded to shots fired around 2:30 a.m. on the 1300 block of 57th Street and found Shelby and another man, Julian Tarver, shot inside a car; both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators believe the shooting occurred near the intersection of Bessemer Road and 57th Street and that the Cadillac Tarver was driving was later stopped behind a Pizza Hut with the driver’s-side windows blown out. A witness heard gunfire followed by a car pulling away, and detectives developed information linking the killings to an earlier break-in of a Pontiac Bonneville on Avenue N; one of the burglars was described as having dreadlocks and fleeing in a Cadillac. Tarver had dreadlocks and was driving a Cadillac, and police publicly identified Tyler Griffin, the Bonneville’s owner, as a person of interest while stressing he had not been charged.

Detectives said Shelby and Tarver had clean records and were returning from Christmas shopping at a local Walmart when they were ambushed. No arrest had been announced during the period covered by reporting about the case. Did anyone in the area see a Cadillac leave the Bessemer Road and 57th Street area that night or know more about the break-in on Avenue N?