In the spring of 2017, the life of 18-year-old Quentavious Arrion Reese was cut short in Alexander City, Alabama. On the evening of Tuesday, March 28, 2017, Reese was a backseat passenger in a four-door car, riding with friends. It was then that a single gunshot penetrated the back window of the vehicle, striking the young man in the head. Reese, a student at Benjamin Russell High School, was rushed to a medical center and later airlifted to UAB Medical Center, where he succumbed to his
injuries the following day.
The investigation into the shooting led law enforcement to another 18-year-old, Anthony Davon Parker, a freshman football player for the University of West Alabama and a former classmate of Reese's at Benjamin Russell High School. Investigators determined that Parker had been recklessly discharging a firearm in a residential neighborhood on Robinson Road as the car carrying Reese passed by. Authorities stated that the shooting was not intentional but rather a reckless act. Parker was in the process of purchasing the gun at the time of the incident.
Anthony Parker was arrested and initially charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle. Following Reese's death, the charge was upgraded to murder. Parker was also charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle and his bond was set at $260,000, which he posted. In October 2019, a jury found Parker guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Subsequently, he was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison for his role in the death of Quentavious Reese.
