In the fading hours of a Sunday, the life of 18-year-old Reginal Euel Duke, a male resident of Birmingham, Alabama, was tragically cut short. On December 18, 2022, officers from the city's West Precinct were dispatched to the 1800 block of Bessemer Road to investigate a report of a person shot. Upon their arrival at the scene, they discovered a grim reality: a young man, later identified as Duke, unresponsive inside a vehicle, having sustained a gunshot wound.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service paramedics arrived shortly after and pronounced him deceased.
The initial investigation by Birmingham police homicide detectives suggested that the shooting was the result of an argument that escalated to violence. In the days that followed, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office formally identified the victim as Reginal Euel Duke. The community was left to grapple with the sudden loss of a young life as authorities worked to piece together the events of that fatal night.
The breakthrough in the case came swiftly. Within days of the incident, the Birmingham Police Department announced the arrest of a suspect. Alan Jr. Mondragon-Mendez, also 18 years old, was taken into custody and subsequently charged with the murder of Reginal Duke. Following his arrest, Mondragon-Mendez was booked into the Jefferson County Jail. Court records later revealed that he was indicted on a murder charge by a grand jury. He would later plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
