In the pre-dawn hours of January 13, 2019, Birmingham Police Sergeant WyTasha Carter, a 44-year-old male and U.S. Air Force veteran, was shot and killed while investigating a series of car break-ins in the 900 block of Fifth Avenue North. He and another officer had confronted two suspects and were patting them down when one of the suspects produced a handgun and opened fire; Sergeant Carter was fatally wounded and the second officer was critically injured.

One suspect was wounded by return fire and taken into custody at the scene; that person was later identified as 31-year-old Jeremy Elwin Owens. An 18-year-old who was also taken into custody was later released without being charged. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s State Bureau of Investigation led the inquiry. In February 2019 warrants charging Owens with capital murder and attempted murder were served as he was released from the hospital and taken into custody.

Sergeant Carter had 17 years in law enforcement, including eight years with the Birmingham Police Department, and is survived by his wife and children. Does anyone have memories of Sergeant Carter’s service or information about the case that could help document what happened that night?