On the afternoon of Sunday, July 24, 2022, 39-year-old Ricky Howard Hamrick II of Bremen, Georgia, traveled to Bessemer, Alabama, to sell two handguns via a prearranged Facebook Marketplace meeting in the 1300 block of 6th Avenue North. Hamrick, accompanied by his eight-year-old daughter, was seated in his vehicle at about 4:30 p.m. when at least two people approached on foot. Shots were fired, Hamrick was struck and died in his car, and the assailants fled with the firearms. His daughter witnessed the shooting but was not physically injured; neighbors took her into their home until police arrived.

Bessemer police identified an early 2000s maroon or burgundy four-door Toyota Avalon with a black front passenger door as a vehicle of interest and noted similar robberies in the area. Detectives canvassed for witnesses and surveillance footage, and an enhanced reward that included a contribution from Hamrick’s grandfather reached $20,000, but no arrests have been announced and the investigation remains ongoing.

Does anyone in the Bessemer area recall seeing a maroon or burgundy Avalon or other suspicious activity near 6th Avenue North that afternoon?