Kei’lan Allen was 13 when he was killed by gunfire inside his Tuscaloosa home on the evening of October 15, 2021. He was in his bedroom using an iPad when a drive-by shooting sent a barrage of bullets through the house; his mother, Christina Barnes, discovered him after the shots stopped. Investigators recovered so many shell casings in the street that officers initially used folded business cards as evidence markers.

Authorities say Kei’lan was not the intended target and that the shooters were believed to be aiming at an older relative. Within days the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit arrested three men: 18-year-old James Deanthony Reed, 21-year-old Julian Lamont Gordon Jr., and 19-year-old Jaden Zaire Jenkins, each charged with capital murder and held without bond. Kei’lan’s family described him as a straight-A student, talented in art, the oldest of three, and a positive influence on his sisters.

What information might help explain how shooters came to fire into a family home that evening?