Derrick Mason, a 37-year-old Black man from Birmingham, was killed on April 1, 2018, in the city’s Gate City area after what authorities said began as an argument at a residence on 64th Court Way South. Police were called to 7533 64th Court Way South on a report of a person shot, and when officers arrived they found Mason on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. Birmingham Fire and Rescue responded, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Early reports described the case as a homicide under active investigation, with police saying Mason had been visiting someone at the location when the confrontation broke out.
In the first days after the shooting, the case carried the uncertainty that often hangs over a fresh killing: police publicly said no suspect was in custody while detectives continued to work the scene and piece together what had happened inside that visit turned deadly. The picture that emerged from later reporting was that the argument escalated quickly and ended in gunfire, leaving Mason dead where he fell and his family left to bury him less than two weeks later. Funeral arrangements later placed his visitation on April 13 and his service on April 14, 2018, with burial at Oakland Memorial Gardens.
The investigation did lead to an arrest. On April 25, 2018, Birmingham police announced that they had arrested Denzel Hankins, 21, of Birmingham, in connection with Mason’s death. According to police records cited in the reporting, Mason had been visiting at the residence when an argument began with Hankins, and during that argument Hankins allegedly shot him. Hankins was booked into the Jefferson County Jail, and the reported bond was set at $175,000. The arrest shifted the case from an unsolved street homicide to one with a named suspect and a formal accusation tied directly to the shooting.
Based on the online sources I was able to verify, the publicly reported case details are strongest through the arrest stage: Mason was shot during an argument, Hankins was identified by police as the suspect, and Hankins was arrested and jailed in connection with the killing. I did not locate reliable online reporting in the sources reviewed that clearly documented a later trial, conviction, or final court outcome in Mason’s case, so the publicly available story that can be confirmed online centers on the homicide itself, the police investigation, and the arrest that followed.
