On August 11, 2023, at about 10:35 a.m. Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence in the 8800 block of Gadsden Highway in Argo, Alabama, after reports of a domestic-related shooting. Responding officers found 62-year-old Benjamin Craig Sharpton fatally shot. Witnesses at the scene identified the shooter as his 58-year-old ex-wife, Grace Dunaway Yancey, who was taken into custody and charged with intentional murder; she was booked into the Jefferson County Jail and held without bond under Aniah’s Law.

Benjamin Sharpton, known as Ben or Benji, was born in Birmingham and graduated from Erwin High School. He owned Sharpton’s Auto Repair and was remembered by family as kind and compassionate, a fan of NASCAR, Alabama Football, and Elvis Presley, and an animal lover with a special fondness for dogs. Funeral services were held August 16, 2023, with burial at Steele Cemetery. The motive remained under investigation.

If anyone knew Ben or has information about what happened that morning, please share what you remember.