Tamika Washington, 23, was a woman from Fairfield, Alabama whose life ended in gunfire on June 20, 2015, outside the place she called home in the Demetrius Newton public-housing community. Reports described her as being on the front porch when she was shot, in a neighborhood that—by daylight—was simply where families lived, children played, and neighbors watched each other’s doors.
As word spread through Fairfield, the killing began to feel connected to the fear that had already settled over the area that same day. Family members told local media they believed she was targeted because someone thought she had witnessed an earlier shooting in the community—an incident that left two people wounded, including an 8-year-old girl. In that telling, the night’s violence wasn’t random; it was meant to silence someone who might be able to say what she saw.
Investigators moved quickly enough that, within days, Fairfield police publicly named a suspect. An arrest warrant was issued for Antwaun Rodgers, and police announced they were seeking him on a murder charge tied to Washington’s death, urging anyone with information to come forward and warning that he was believed to be in the Birmingham area.
Not long after, federal authorities entered the picture. The U.S. Marshals Service reported that Rodgers—also known by the nickname “Bird”—had been arrested in west Birmingham, and that he had been charged with murder in connection with the killing. He was reported to be held in the Jefferson County Jail on bond as the case shifted from street searches and patrol-car spotlights to jail paperwork and court dates.
In the days that followed, grief took on the shape of arrangements and goodbyes. A published death notice said Washington’s funeral service was held at Thompson Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church in Fairfield, and it listed the family she left behind, including her husband, Elliot Washington, and four children.
