Bernard Gregory Strother, a 48-year-old Black man, was killed in the early hours of September 8, 2015, in Bessemer, Alabama, after gunfire erupted along Westlake Drive near Ridge Avenue. Police were dispatched around 2:30 a.m. to reports of shots being fired and arrived to find him dead at the scene from an apparent gunshot wound, the night still raw with flashing lights and the sudden quiet that follows violence.
A second man, Richard Harry Evans, had also been shot and was rushed to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, where he later died. Investigators described finding evidence of a fierce burst of gunfire—two victims down and a vehicle peppered with bullet holes—suggesting the shooting unfolded quickly and with little chance to react.
As detectives worked the scene, attention drifted to what the location may have represented that night: reports indicated authorities discovered and removed multiple illegal gambling machines from a nearby shed or building tied to the area’s activity. Investigators suggested the shooting may have been connected to a robbery or a dispute linked to gambling, a hint that the danger may have arrived not at random but with purpose—someone coming to take, to settle, or to silence.
In the days that followed, the case settled into the difficult rhythm of an active investigation: officers asking for leads, detectives tracking down fragments of witness accounts, and a community left with the uneasy knowledge that the person responsible had not been caught. Public updates at the time reported no arrests, and police continued to urge anyone with information to contact the Bessemer Police Department or report tips anonymously.
