In the early morning hours of September 29, 2023, Stephen ‘Steve’ Perkins, a 39-year-old Black or African American man, was shot and killed by police in the front yard of his Decatur, Alabama, home. The fatal encounter unfolded after a tow truck driver arrived at Perkins' residence to repossess his truck. Perkins confronted the driver, reportedly with a handgun, leading the driver to leave and call the police for assistance.
Later that same morning, the tow truck driver returned,
this time accompanied by several Decatur police officers who positioned themselves around the property. When Perkins emerged from his home once more to confront the driver, he was carrying a handgun that also had a flashlight attached. As he walked across his yard, an officer shouted, "Police, get on the ground," and almost immediately, a barrage of gunfire erupted. A neighbor's home surveillance camera captured the incident, which showed the events unfolding rapidly. Perkins died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Initial statements from the Decatur Police Department claimed that officers had ordered Perkins to drop his weapon and that he had refused. However, this account was later retracted by the police chief, who apologized for the inaccurate information after the neighbor's video surfaced. The footage contradicted the initial police narrative, showing that officers opened fire without giving Perkins a clear command to drop any weapon. The incident sparked immediate and sustained protests from the community, with many calling for transparency and justice for the husband and father of two.
In the aftermath, four officers were disciplined: Mac Bailey Marquette, Christopher Mukkadam, and Joey Williams were fired, and a fourth officer was suspended. Following an investigation by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the case was presented to a Morgan County grand jury. In January 2024, the grand jury returned a unanimous indictment against one officer, Mac Bailey Marquette, on a charge of murder. The other officers on the scene were not charged. Marquette was arrested and subsequently released on a $30,000 bond. His legal team has argued that he acted in self-defense, a claim that was denied in a pre-trial immunity hearing. His murder trial is scheduled for November. Perkins's widow has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Decatur and the officers involved.
