On the night of May 9, 2020, officers responded to a home at 1221 Gulfport Street in Birmingham’s Wylam neighborhood after a report of gunfire. Inside, 32-year-old Roderick Smith, a Black man, was found with a fatal gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. Smith’s 7-year-old son was also hurt and ran to a neighbor’s house for help as adults tried to make sense of the scene.

Initial police statements treated the incident as a homicide and said there were no arrests while detectives reconstructed what happened. Investigators later reclassified the death as a non-criminal homicide, describing it as an accidental shooting. After evidence collection and a forensic interview conducted through the Prescott House, police said the child had not been shot but was injured by the slide of the firearm when it discharged, and that the evidence suggested the child accidentally fired the weapon, striking Smith. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the findings and the case was deemed accidental, with no charges filed.

If anyone has information about what happened at 1221 Gulfport Street that night, please share what is known.