On a winter evening in Birmingham, Alabama, the life of 49-year-old Ed Franklin Harris was abruptly ended by gunfire. On January 8, 2022, Harris was in the 1600 block of Matt Leonard Drive SW when he was fatally shot. When first responders arrived at the scene, they found Harris lying in the roadway, and he was pronounced dead from his injuries.
The violence of that night also claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl, Yasmine Wright.
Wright, who was being driven home by her aunt from her job at the Birmingham Zoo, was struck by a stray bullet and later died at UAB Hospital. Investigators believe that Harris was the intended target of the shooting.
In the aftermath of the double homicide, the Birmingham Police Department began their investigation, seeking to piece together the events that led to the tragic deaths. A person of interest was interviewed in connection with the slayings, but no charges were filed. Witnesses provided a description of a potential suspect: a tall, slender Black male who was seen leaving the area in a black Lexus, armed with a rifle.
As of early 2023, more than a year after the incident, the case remains unsolved, and the killer or killers are still at large. The Birmingham Police Department continues to appeal to the public for any information that might lead to an arrest, hoping to bring a measure of justice to the families of Ed Franklin Harris and Yasmine Wright.
