Mac Wayne Early, 37, male, was killed on the night of December 6, 2018, in Bessemer, Alabama, on Center Street near Chestnut Avenue. Police were called to the area at about 10:00 p.m. after reports that someone had been shot. When officers arrived, they found Early in the roadway amid signs that multiple rounds had been fired, and he was pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds.
In the first hours after the shooting, the street was treated like a crime scene under bright lights and watchful tape, while investigators worked to piece together what had happened. Early’s death was confirmed by the Jefferson County Coroner, and Bessemer police said they were still trying to identify who pulled the trigger and why, even as word spread through the community that the violence had erupted suddenly on an ordinary Thursday night.
As detectives dug in, they reported that an argument had taken place before the gunfire. Witness interviews and the evidence gathered during the investigation pointed them toward a suspect, and within about a week police announced an arrest: Brandon Keenan Phillips of Birmingham. Phillips was taken into custody on December 13, 2018, and authorities said he faced a murder charge connected to Early’s death, along with additional charges that included attempted murder and other shooting-related counts.
Phillips was booked into the Jefferson County Jail with bonds that totaled $550,000, reflecting the seriousness of the allegations and the wider danger investigators believed surrounded the incident. The public updates available from local reporting centered on the arrest, the charge list, and investigators’ belief that the shooting followed an argument; the sources reviewed did not provide later, definitive public details about a trial, conviction, or sentencing in the case.
In the days that followed, Early’s family prepared to lay him to rest. Funeral arrangements published at the time said services were held on Saturday, December 15, 2018, at Mars Hill Baptist Church in Brighton, Alabama, followed by interment at New Oakdale Cemetery.
