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A man was found shot to death Easter Sunday inside his Birmingham home.
A family member made the discovery about 6:30 p.m. at the residence in the 10 block of 15th Avenue West in the city’s East Thomas neighborhood.
North Precinct officers responded, entered the house, and found the victim unresponsive inside.
Initially the case was being investigated as an unclassified death, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.
“We just didn’t have a lot to go on until our officers began canvassing the scene, and that’s when we observed shell casings in the roadway,’’ he said.
Detectives determined the man was a victim of homicide.
Police marked several shell casings on 15th Avenue West in front of the victim’s house. Further investigation showed there was substantial bullet damage to the residence.
Police had responded early Sunday to a shooting on the same street, in which a victim sustained a non-life-threatening injury.
It was not immediately clear if the homicide victim was killed in that shooting and not discovered until four hours later, or if he was killed by separate gunfire.
One resident at the scene said he heard about 25 shots while he was working on his car between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
“Officers and detectives are working to learn if the incidents are connected,’’ Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said investigators are hoping neighbors may have captured something on home surveillance cameras.
“Maybe there is footage of the shooter standing in the roadway firing shots,’’ he said.
The victim is Birmingham’s 34th homicide so far this year. Of those, three have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.
Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
