On a Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 6, 2016, a dispute over a vehicle repair turned fatal, ending the life of 32-year-old Cortez Rhynes, a Black male. The incident unfolded just before 3:00 p.m. in the Acipco-Finley neighborhood, near the 1700 block of 26th Avenue North. Rhynes had arranged to meet with Rodarius Kwamaine Grimes to settle a payment for repairs following a car accident between the two men.
During their meeting, the discussion escalated, leading Grimes to
fatally shoot Rhynes multiple times. Authorities later discovered ten shell casings at the scene of the crime. In his defense, Grimes claimed that he believed Rhynes was reaching for a firearm, a claim that was unsubstantiated as no other weapon was found at the location. Following the shooting, Grimes fled the scene, leaving Rhynes deceased near a vehicle.
In the aftermath of the tragic event, Rodarius Kwamaine Grimes turned himself in to law enforcement. At the time of the shooting, Grimes was already on probation for a conviction of unlawful possession of a controlled substance. His criminal history also included a prior assault conviction, and a previous murder charge that had been dismissed. In November of 2017, a jury found Grimes guilty of capital murder in the death of Cortez Rhynes, bringing a legal conclusion to the violent encounter that had transpired over a seemingly minor dispute.
