By Gary Lloyd
BIRMINGHAM — At about 4:30 am on Sunday, Nov. 23, deputies responded to a report of a suspicious person. They arrived to find a 33-year-old Hispanic male victim who reported that he had been robbed and shot.
Paramedics arrived to treat his injuries and discovered he had been shot twice in the upper body. He was transported to an area hospital and is expected to survive.
The investigation revealed that the victim had gone out with a white female he had recently met. She suggested they go back to her house. When they arrived at the residence they encountered two white males that he didn’t know, according to a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office statement.
They befriended the victim and the four of them rode around the Pinson area in a black Volkswagen Jetta. They pulled down a dead-end street and stopped. The men ordered the victim out of the car. Once outside the car, the two men pulled handguns on the victim and demanded his wallet, according to the statement.
Mayor Hoyt Sanders said the sheriff’s office clarified with another media outlet that it occurred near the 4900 block of Pinson Valley Parkway. They forced him to lie on the ground and then shot him twice in the back. He stayed down until they left and then walked to a nearby residence to call for help. The victim was unfamiliar with the area and couldn’t give any of the locations to which he had been taken.
Detectives developed information that led to the identity of the shooters. On Nov. 26, detectives obtained arrest warrants charging 30-year-old Larry Dale Tolbert of Remlap and 32-year-old Tommy Eugene Reed of Ashville with first-degree robbery and attempted murder.
On Monday, acting on a tip from Crime Stoppers, detectives went to a home in the 900 block of Alliance Road in western Jefferson County. Tolbert was found hiding in a closet and was taken into custody without incident. He was questioned by detectives and confessed to his involvement the robbery and shooting.
Reed remains at large. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777 or the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 205-325-1450.
UPDATE: Reed was taken into custody during a traffic stop in Etowah County on Tuesday afternoon. He was transported to the Jefferson County Jail where he remains with bonds totaling $200,000.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.