An argument in the Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama, escalated into a fatal shooting on the afternoon of Thursday, April 18, 2024, claiming the life of Anthony Lambert Jr. A 21-year-old Black man from Birmingham, Lambert was believed by police to have been in a dispute with one or two other men just before the shooting occurred.
The incident drew the attention of law enforcement around 4:20 p.m.
when West Precinct officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the 5700 block of Court I. While on their way, officers received an update that a person was lying unresponsive in the front yard of a home on 58th Street. There, they found Lambert suffering from visible signs of trauma. Birmingham Fire and Rescue personnel arrived and pronounced him deceased at the scene. The person or persons who shot him had already fled.
The investigation into the homicide took a significant turn later that same day when an adult male walked into Birmingham Police Department Headquarters to turn himself in to authorities. Investigators made contact with the man and interviewed him about the events that had transpired earlier that afternoon.
The man was identified as Gary Steele, 33, of nearby Bessemer. After detectives presented their information to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, a warrant for murder was obtained on Friday, April 19. Steele was formally charged in connection with the shooting death of Anthony Lambert Jr.
Gary Steele was taken into custody and is being held in the Jefferson County Jail without bond. As of April 2024, his case was set to proceed through the court system.
