Michael DeWayne Toney Jr., a 23-year-old man from Birmingham, Alabama, was killed on April 10, 2019, after gunfire erupted outside a home on Woodland Avenue Southwest in the city’s west side. In the early evening, police said a dark-colored vehicle moved through the area and shots were fired toward the house and nearby vehicles. As Toney stepped out of the residence, he was struck in the burst of gunfire, turning an ordinary visit into a frantic scramble for help.
Rescue crews rushed him from the scene to UAB Hospital, but the wounds were catastrophic. The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office later confirmed he was taken to the hospital’s emergency department and was pronounced dead that evening, with the death recorded at 6:24 p.m.
Investigators treated the shooting as a homicide and described it as a drive-by attack, emphasizing that the rounds were not limited to a single target but tore into the home and multiple vehicles in the vicinity. In the hours after the killing, authorities said suspect information was limited beyond the description of the dark vehicle and the fact that multiple occupants were believed to be involved in the shooting.
At the time those reports were published, police stated there had been no arrests, and they publicly appealed for help from anyone who might have seen the vehicle, recognized the shooters, or knew what led up to the ambush. They directed tipsters to the Birmingham Police Department’s Homicide Unit and to Crime Stoppers, underscoring that the case depended on witnesses who might be reluctant to speak unless they could do so safely.
