Alvin Echols

On the evening of December 18, 2025, the community of Westland, Michigan, was shaken by a violent incident at a local Kroger grocery store located at 36430 Ford Road. Alvin Leon Echols, a 47-year-old male, was volunteering as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign outside the store’s entrance. Around 6:10 p.m., while he was engaging in his charitable duties, a gunman approached him in what authorities later described as a deliberate ambush.

Echols was shot multiple ...

Detroit man charged with murder in fatal shooting of Salvation Army bell ringer

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