Roderick Bowers, a 34-year-old Black man, was killed just after midnight on December 14, 2009, in a house on Avenue H in Birmingham’s Ensley neighborhood. Police found him at 1304 Avenue H with gunshot wounds to the head and chest; he was pronounced dead at the scene and recorded as the city’s 61st homicide that year.

Investigators say two men knocked at the door, Bowers opened and let them in, and seconds later multiple gunshots were fired. The two men were seen leaving the house soon afterward. Officers found Bowers’s family outside, distraught; in the days after, authorities described the case as active but reported no arrests and asked anyone with information to contact homicide detectives or Crime Stoppers anonymously if preferred.

Funeral services were held December 19, 2009, at Shady Grove Baptist Church with burial at Highland Memorial Gardens. If anyone knew Roderick or has information about that night, please come forward to investigators.