In the early hours of July 4, 2025, the quiet of Alton's Oakwood Avenue was broken by gunfire that pierced the walls of a home in the 900 block. Inside, 17-year-old Shabrya L. Hudson, a Black female, was struck by a bullet while she sat in her apartment. First responders arrived around 2 a.m., rendered aid, and rushed Shabrya L. Hudson, 17, female, to a local hospital before she was airlifted to St. Louis; despite efforts, she died from her wounds.
Investigators later described her as an uninvolved victim, felled by a stray round fired at someone else during a dispute outside.
The Alton Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division moved quickly. Over the holiday weekend and into the following days, detectives worked leads, served a search warrant at Oakwood Estates, and interviewed people connected to the unfolding case. On Monday, July 7, 2025, officers arrested 18-year-old Joshua L. Glen-Colley. Prosecutors charged him with two counts of first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and aggravated unlawful possession of weapons. Authorities said Shabrya L. Hudson, 17, female, had been “gunned down while sitting inside her own home,” emphasizing she was not part of any dispute. Glen-Colley was detained pending a hearing.
As detectives pressed forward, additional arrests followed. Morgan E. Booth, 23, was taken into custody and charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation; she was later released pursuant to the terms of her warrant. The next day brought a pivotal development: prosecutors filed two counts of first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm against Tamadrey C. Ballinger, who investigators allege acted as a lookout. According to court filings, Ballinger alerted Glen-Colley to the location of the intended targets within the Oakwood Avenue apartment complex and approached alongside him before shots were fired—one of which penetrated the apartment and struck Shabrya L. Hudson, 17, female, in the head. Ballinger was held pending a detention hearing.
The investigative net widened once more when Brashonda D. Colley, 44, was charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly giving false information related to the movements of Glen-Colley. She, too, was released in accordance with her arrest warrant. Throughout these steps, police leadership publicly credited the around-the-clock work by detectives and pledged to pursue anyone linked to the shooting. The portrait that emerged was stark: a targeted encounter outside, a lookout and a gunman converging on their intended victims, and inside a nearby home, a teenager—Shabrya L. Hudson, 17, female—caught in the path of a bullet never meant for her.
