On a cold January day in Birmingham, Alabama, the life of 40-year-old Michelle Kemp Gilder was tragically cut short. On January 4, 2022, Gilder was fatally shot while sitting in a vehicle on Treadwell Road, near the northern edge of the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. The incident, which also resulted in her husband being grazed by a bullet, was described as a targeted assault.
In the weeks that followed the violent encounter, law enforcement officials worked to piece
together the events that led to Gilder's death. Their investigation culminated in the arrest of a suspect the following month. Charles Eugene Knight Jr. was taken into custody and subsequently faced serious charges in connection with the fatal shooting.
Knight was charged with capital murder for his alleged role in the death of Michelle Kemp Gilder. In addition to the murder charge, he was also charged with attempted murder, stemming from the injury sustained by Gilder's husband during the attack. The arrest brought a measure of progress in a case that had suddenly and violently ended a life.
