Mercedes Morris, a 21-year-old Black woman and Lee High School graduate, was shot and killed on the night of New Year’s Day, January 1, 2014. She was waiting in a car parked in the driveway of a home on the 2700 block of Bridge Road in Huntsville when several offenders approached and opened fire on the residence. Morris was struck during the barrage; her boyfriend, who had been inside the home, found her wounded, drove her to a Shell station at Blue Spring Road and Sparkman Drive and called 911. She was taken to Huntsville Hospital and pronounced dead.

Her death was the city’s first homicide of 2014. Police arrested 24-year-old Lopez Marittia Rice and charged him with murder; he was later released on bond and then jailed on separate drug charges. Rice’s murder trial began in September 2018 but was halted after two key witnesses went into hiding and refused to testify, and prosecutors dropped the charge. Because of double jeopardy, Rice cannot be retried and the killing remains unresolved.

If anyone knew Mercedes or has information about the shooting, please come forward.