Christopher J. Alexander, a 26-year-old male from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was killed on the evening of May 31, 2018, when gunfire broke out in the 2100 block of North 5th Street, near the area of 5th and Forrest Streets. Police responding to reports of a shooting found him lying on the sidewalk with fatal gunshot wounds. Early reports said the shooting happened around 7:45 p.m., and authorities initially warned that the person responsible was armed and dangerous.
The killing unfolded in a city neighborhood where Alexander had been outside when the violence erupted. In the hours after his death, police identified him publicly and sought help from the community, while Dauphin County Crime Stoppers offered a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest. His obituary later listed his full name as Christopher J. Alexander, with a date of birth of September 4, 1991, and noted funeral services in Harrisburg, along with surviving family members including his mother, stepmother, and brothers.
The investigation soon led police to Stevenson Mack. On June 25, 2018, Harrisburg Police arrested Mack, then 25, and accused him of fatally shooting Alexander. Authorities charged him with first-degree murder and person not to possess a firearm. WGAL also reported that Mack was taken into custody that Monday in connection with the deadly shooting on North 5th Street.
The case later moved away from the original first-degree murder posture. Reporting on the later court outcome said Mack had been facing life without parole, but the first-degree murder case weakened and ended in a plea agreement. Mack pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in connection with Alexander's death, with reporting describing Alexander as his former friend and saying Mack had wrongly suspected him of cooperating with police. Under the plea deal, Mack received a sentence of five to ten years, a result the district attorney criticized as not remotely proportional to the crime.
