Efrem LaRay Stallworth Jr., a 22-year-old Black/African American man, was fatally wounded in a shooting in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 2023. Stallworth was struck by a single gunshot, but the wound did not immediately take his life. He survived the initial shooting and remained alive for approximately two weeks as he dealt with the devastating medical consequences of the injury.
Police made an arrest the same night Stallworth was shot.
Devontae Fuller was taken into custody in connection with the shooting, meaning investigators had identified and apprehended a suspect well before Stallworth ultimately died. The case therefore began while Stallworth was still alive and continued as his medical condition developed in the days that followed.
Despite surviving the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Stallworth never recovered from the damage caused by the gunshot. Approximately two weeks later, on December 23, 2023, he died from complications related to the shooting. His death made clear that the single gunshot had ultimately been fatal, even though there was a significant period of time between the shooting and his death.
The timing is an important part of Stallworth's story. He was not killed at the scene or on the night he was shot. Instead, he fought to survive for roughly two weeks before complications from the wound claimed his life. His December 23 death was therefore the eventual result of the earlier shooting rather than a separate act of violence occurring on that date.
The criminal case against Fuller continued after Stallworth's death. Fuller was ultimately sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment and was committed to the Alabama Department of Corrections. His sentence brought a substantial measure of legal accountability in a case that began with a single gunshot, continued through Stallworth's prolonged survival and medical struggle, and ended with his death approximately two weeks later.
Stallworth's death left family and friends mourning a young man whose life ended at only 22. Although the shooting itself involved only one gunshot, its consequences unfolded over the following weeks, culminating in Stallworth's death on December 23, 2023, and eventually in a lengthy prison sentence for Devontae Fuller.
