Talton Tate, 36, a Black man from Birmingham, Alabama, was one of four friends whose afternoon ended in sudden violence on February 16, 2024, when gunfire erupted near a neighborhood car wash in the city’s College Hills area.
Just before 2:45 p.m., Birmingham police were dispatched after a ShotSpotter alert indicated multiple rounds fired near the 900 block of Center Street North. As officers rushed in, they were told four people had been hit.
At the scene, they found the victims lying unresponsive near an open lot, each suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Birmingham Fire and Rescue pronounced three men dead at the location, while the fourth was rushed to UAB Hospital, where he later died.
Early accounts from investigators painted the attack as abrupt and purposeful: the men were believed to have been at the car wash when an unknown suspect or suspects opened fire. Police said they believed one or more of the victims had been targeted, and in the earliest days after the shooting they emphasized that no one was in custody while detectives worked leads and urged anyone with information to come forward.
Roughly two weeks later, authorities announced a break. Lamarion Tykese Charlie, 20, of Birmingham, was arrested in connection with the killings. Reports stated he was booked into the Jefferson County Jail and faced capital-murder charges tied to the deaths, including capital murder involving two or more victims and capital murder in the presence of a child under 14; another report described him as charged with four counts of capital murder.
In March 2025, prosecutors moved the case further down the court path. A grand jury indicted Charlie on charges described as capital murder of two or more persons, capital murder in the presence of a child, and first-degree armed robbery. Court documents referenced in reporting tied the “child presence” allegation to an accusation that one victim was shot while that victim’s child, under 14, was present.
