Family seeks justice in unsolved killing of son, former PVHS football star

By Crystal McGough, Associate Editor

PINSON – The Pinson Valley Indians won their second consecutive Class 6A state football championship in 2018 after defender Kendall Jarrod Thornton Jr. intercepted a Saraland pass and ran 32 yards to the end zone, securing a final score of 26-17 for the Indians.

Kendall Jarrod Thornton Jr. (Photo provided by Angel Miranda-Spencer)

Just a few short years later, however, Thornton’s life was unexpectedly ended when someone shot a gun – or guns – into his vehicle on his way home from a friend’s house on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022.

Thornton had left his friend’s house in the Inglenook neighborhood and was on his way to his father’s house, just a few minutes away off Highway 79, when someone fired bullets into the blue Kia Forte he was driving. Thornton’s car left the road and crashed into a tree. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.

“He was almost home and somebody shot in the car,” his mother, Angel Miranda-Spencer, said. “He ran off the road and hit a tree and the car flipped.”

Miranda-Spencer said a truck driver called the accident in and officers from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office came to her house at 2 a.m., reporting that her son had died in an accident.

“It wasn’t until the next day that the detectives told us that there were bullet holes in the car,” she said. “It was just like another blow; it was a nightmare. It’s like they drop a bomb and your world is shattered, and then they leave and you don’t know what’s what.”

Thornton, who was only a month away from his 22^nd birthday, had been playing a video game at his friend’s house that night and had made plans to continue playing the game with his friend online after getting home, Miranda-Spencer said. She added that the friend said there had been no issues or conflicts that evening.

Thornton’s mother described him as a reserved, respectful and helpful young man; not the type of person who would have been involved with the wrong crowd.

“He was leaving from the Inglenook neighborhood, which is notorious for gang activity, but they never hung outside,” Miranda-Spencer said. “His best friend lives there. They’ve been best friends since eighth grade. So, they would go over, but they would be inside playing their game.”

According to Miranda-Spencer, the truck driver said there was one car in front of Thornton and one car behind him that night.

Kendall Jarrod Thornton Jr., PVHS Class of 2019 (Photo provided by Angel Miranda-Spencer)

“Nothing could ever prepare you for that. … To think that he was just driving home,” she said. “I feel like they just ambushed him. He had no enemies. … He was just a good kid. He was in that in-between stage where he had graduated high school and now was trying to figure out what he wanted to do. But he always worked; he always kept a job and made his own money – totally independent.”

One theory Miranda-Spencer said detectives are leaning toward is that the shooting may have been part of a gang initiation. She added that there were a lot of bullet holes in Thornton’s car.

“We know for sure one person didn’t do this,” she said. “And the crazy part is, he didn’t have problems with anybody. So you can innocently be just driving home and get shot for no reason. He’s gone, but me and his dad and his brother, the family, our world is completely shattered. It doesn’t get any easier. We just long for him.”

Thornton’s family has started a GoFundMe to raise reward money for anyone willing to come forward with information that leads to the identification of Thornton’s killer(s). Any money raised through the GoFundMe will be added to the $5,000 reward put up by Crime Stoppers and the additional $5,000 the family contributed.

“I wanted to try to make a goal for the reward to be $25,000, just so maybe that will motivate someone to talk,” Miranda-Spencer said. “I know there are people who know what happened and possibly too scared (to talk). That’s why I wanted to increase the reward.”

To the people of the Pinson community, Thornton’s parents and siblings plead for anyone who has any information regarding what happened that night to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers.

“The littlest, tiniest bit of information could really be helpful,” she said. “Please reach out. If you’re afraid, with Crime Stoppers you don’t even have to give your name; you can give a tip anonymously. Because, if this happened to him, it could happen to anybody. It was totally unprovoked. This is pure evil (and) they could do it to your family; you just don’t know. So, if you know anything, I’m just begging, any little thing, please call and let them know something.”

To the people who shot Thornton, Miranda-Spencer simply wants to know why.

“What happened? What could’ve happened that was so bad that you just decided to play God and take his life?” she asked. “Now he’s gone and we’re here just to suffer. I won’t ever not miss my son. I’ll miss him until the day I die.”

As painful as it is to talk about, Miranda-Spencer said she will not stop pursuing justice for her son until the people responsible are held accountable.

“I don’t want his case to get forgotten about … I have to be his voice,” she said. “I just want justice for him because he didn’t do people wrong. He really grew up to be a fine young man. … I know that getting these people that did this won’t make me feel any better, but we’ll have justice for him, and they should be held accountable for this.”

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Hill of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at (205) 882-0093 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

Anyone who would like to contribute to the cash reward fund can do so here.