In the fading daylight of a Tuesday evening in Birmingham, Alabama, the life of Henry Lee Toles Jr., a 33-year-old Black man, was tragically cut short. On May 12, 2015, Toles was found suffering from a gunshot wound inside a vehicle on the west side of the city. The grim discovery was made around 8:30 p.m. in the 1100 block of 11th Avenue North.
Responding to a call of a person shot, Birmingham police officers arrived at the scene to find Toles gravely injured.
He was quickly transported to UAB Hospital, but his wounds proved to be fatal, and he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. The initial investigation by law enforcement suggested that the shooting may have stemmed from an earlier altercation.
Detectives with the Birmingham Police Department immediately began a homicide investigation into Toles' death. They believed that Toles had been in a dispute with at least one other male prior to the shooting. Despite their efforts and investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal encounter, details regarding any suspects or arrests in the case remain publicly unavailable. The case joined the growing list of homicides in Birmingham for that year, leaving a family to mourn and a community searching for answers that have yet to come to light.
