Ricky Howard Hamrick II - July 24th - Alabama - Black suspects
White male murdered in front of 8 year old daughter as he pulled into a gun show - Black males
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Arheel's Uncle
Senior Reporter
39-year-old Ricky Howard Hamrick II
Man shot to death in front of young daughter during buy/sell/trade meeting in Bessemer
Bessemer police are investigating after a man was found shot multiple times in the 1300 block of 6th Avenue North just before 4:30 P. M. on July 24, 2022.
abc3340.com
Man shot to death in front of young daughter during buy/sell/trade meeting in Bessemer
by Valerie Bell
Monday, July 25th 2022
Bessemer police are investigating after a man was found shot multiple times in the 1300 block of 6th Avenue North just before 4:30 P.M. on July 24, 2022.
39-year-old Ricky Howard Hamrick II, of Bremen, Georgia, was shot inside his car. His eight-year-old daughter was also in the car, but was not injured.
Lt. Christian Clemons tells ABC 33/40 News the shooting took place when Hamrick was meeting someone for a buy/sell/trade transaction from an on-line deal.
Clemons said it is believed Hamrick drove from Cleburne County to Bessemer to sell two hand guns.
During the transaction, two suspects, described as black males, fired three shots into the vehicle, striking Hamrick in the head.
The suspects stole the guns and fled the scene.
The eight-year-old girl was uninjured.
"The good folks of Bessemer took care of the 8 year old, they realized what happened, hear the shots, ran to her aid and took her in their home and waited for officers to arrive," said Clemons.
The incident happened right outside the Salvation Army.
“It breaks your heart, it saddens you, because this girl cant un-see what she has seen," said Major Robert Lyle, the Area Commander for the Central Alabama Salvation Army. “We live in a world that is just broken, and we want to offer hope and healing and that is found in jesus Christ.”
Lyle said they will also be installing cameras around the property to help deter crime.
“We want the seniors who have lived here their entire life, the new person moving in, we want everyone to know this is a safe place," said Lyle.
No arrests have been made.
"We'd like to talk to you, turn yourself in. I'm sure you have a story as well but if you don't, several hundred officers are going to come looking for you," said Clemons.
The Bessemer Police Department asks for anyone with any information about this shooting to call 205-425-2411.
Arheel's Uncle
Senior Reporter
‘Daddy’s girl’ witnesses Alabama father’s killing during gun sale: ‘She’s got to live with that’
“No provocation led to this shooting,’’ Lt. Christian Clemons said. “We’re talking about lowdown, dirty, rotten cowards.”
www.al.com
‘Daddy’s girl’ witnesses Alabama father’s killing during gun sale: ‘She’s got to live with that’
“No provocation led to this shooting,’’ Lt. Christian Clemons said. “We’re talking about lowdown, dirty, rotten cowards.”
www.al.com
‘Daddy’s girl’ witnesses Alabama father’s killing during gun sale: ‘She’s got to live with that’
- Published: Jul. 25, 2022, 7:13 p.m.
Ricky Howard Hamrick III (Special to AL.com)
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Sunday was supposed to be a happy daddy-daughter day, one of many Ricky Hamrick III and his 8-year-old daughter had shared while she visited him in Alabama for the summer.
They were taking a road trip together, with plans to finish off the day at Whataburger.
Instead, Hamrick ended up with a fatal gunshot wound to the head that police say happened during a gun deal brokered on Facebook Marketplace.
And his young daughter, who is preparing to enter the third grade, ended up covered in blood after witnessing something no child should ever have to endure.
“On the way home after we left Birmingham, she said, ‘If them boys hadn’t done this, we’d both be so happy. We’d be laughing and our way to Whataburger,’’ said Hamrick’s mother and the girl’s grandmother, Debbie Stringer. “She said, ‘We planned this wonderful day and they just ruined it.’ She’s got to live with that.’’
“I’ve never seen a daddy’s girl like her,’’ Stringer said.
Fortunately for the girl, Bessemer resident Kelli Brown heard the shots and went to her rescue. She kept her safe until police arrived, and kept her occupied while the investigation was underway outside her home.
“It took everything in me not to break down in front of her,’’ Brown said. “I just could fathom it. It was so surreal.”
The deadly shooting happened about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the 1300 block of Sixth Avenue North in Bessemer. Lt. Christian Clemons said Hamrick and his daughter traveled to Bessemer from Cleburne County to sell two guns.
There was little conversation and apparently no confrontation before at least three bullets were fired into Hamrick’s sedan. Hamrick’s daughter was in the front passenger’s seat but miraculously was unharmed.
“Just a matter of a misplaced angle or a misplaced bullet,’’ he said, “and we’re talking about her being struck as well.”
A man was shot to death Sunday, July 24, 2022, in Bessemer. Police say he was killed during a Facebook Marketplace transaction.
“You can imagine the clientele you have when you sell guns to somebody. You’ve got to wonder who you are selling guns to,’’ Clemons said.
“Unfortunately, he sold guns to somebody that ended his life, somebody who we consider a coward, somebody who is going to shoot a person while they’re sitting in their car.”
“No provocation led to this shooting,’’ Clemons said. “We’re talking about lowdown, dirty, rotten cowards.”
The shooting happened in broad daylight in a residential area near downtown Bessemer and next to the Salvation Army.
Kelli Brown was inside her home when she heard the shots. Her son-in-law had taken the dog out and came back inside saying someone had been shot.
She went outside to see what was happening.
“I looked around the corner and that’s when I saw the man leaning over. You could see he had been shot in his left temple,’’ Brown said. “I heard a child screaming. She got out of the car and came around and, bless her heart, she didn’t want to leave her daddy.”
“She was trying her best to stay there with him. She opened the door and was leaning over him,’’ she said. “She was feeling around because his cell phone was in his pocket and she wanted to call her grandmother.”
Brown’s family was warning her not to go near the car. “I wasn’t thinking about myself,’’ Brown said. “I just saw that baby, who just saw her daddy get killed in front of her. I said, ‘Baby, please come to me.’”
They called to the girl. “Finally, she ran to us,’’ Brown said. “She was saying, ‘They shot my daddy, I don’t want my daddy to die.’ I couldn’t do nothing but hold her.’’
Brown took the girl inside and grabbed some towels to clean her up. “She was bloody from head to toe,’’ Brown said.
Brown gave her some socks because she had run out of her flip flops. Another neighbor brought over some clean shorts and a t-shirt for her to put on.
“I just kept her inside with my grandchildren,’’ Brown said. “She said, ‘Your grandchildren are super nice.’’'
The kids watched TikTok together and played. “It got her mind off things for a little bit,’’ she said. “But every time somebody came in, she was asking about her daddy.”
Brown asked police not to tell the girl that her father had died until her other family members arrived. “When I told her her grandmother was coming, she said, ‘Oh, my grandmother is coming? That will take about an hour,’’' Brown said. “She was so smart.”
“She told us detail by detail what happened,’’ she said. “It was horrible.”
“I could not believe they actually did that in front of that baby,’’ she said. “Even killing him – it’s just senseless.”
Eventually the girl was taken to police headquarters where she was fed while she waited for her family. Her mother is en route to Alabama from Texas and will be taking her daughter back home with her on Tuesday morning.
“I called Lt. Clemons about 11:30 p.m. to check on her,’’ Brown said. “I told her I was giving my phone number to the police to give her grandmother and for her to call me. Hopefully she will call me.”
Ricky Howard Hamrick III (Special to AL.com)
Stringer said her son lived next door to her in Heflin and they talked and saw each other every day. Stringer also has two other children close to her granddaughter’s age and said the kids had been inseparable all summer.
She called her son her best friend and said she is devastated by his death.
“He was just a gentle giant. He had no malice in his heart whatsoever,’’ Stringer said. “He loved his family more than anything and his family loved him.”
Hamrick, she said, lost his leg more than a year ago in an accident. He was cleaning his gun when it discharged and struck him just above the knee. It was then they had to do a full amputation.
Because he couldn’t work, he bought and sold items for a profit. It could be a gun, a chainsaw, or any item that could make him a little money.
“He was just a good-hearted man trying to make a living,’’ she said, “trying to get by.”
Court records show no criminal history for Hamrick, and Clemons said he believes the guns were being sold legally.
Stringer said she believes her son was set up to be robbed. The killers took the guns and fled the scene.
“They didn’t have no intention of buying it,’’ she said. “It was cold-blooded murder for nothing, and then his baby had to witness it.”
Stringer said granddaughter, though strong, is taking her father’s death hard.
“She just cries out of the blue,’’ she said. “She’s wearing his dirty t-shirt right now because it smells like him.”
“Every time I start crying, she sticks that t-shirt in my face,’’ she said with smile. “She’s coping but she breaks down. She misses him a lot.”
Clemons said no arrests have been made, but they do have some leads.
“We’re asking for the public’s help with anything that they saw,’’ he said.
“For the suspects who committed this, we’d like to talk to you. We’d like for you to turn yourself in. I’m sure you have a story as well,’’ Clemons said. “If you don’t, there will be several hundred officers come looking for you.”
The Bessemer Police Department's “Safe Meeting Zone” is located at the department’s Emergency Operations Center, 651 9th Avenue SW in Bessemer.
He reminded the public that it’s important to meet in a safe place to conduct buying and selling of items from social media sites.
The Bessemer Police Department has a “Safe Meeting Zone” designed specifically for these transactions, as do many police department.
Bessemer’s “Safe Meeting Zone” is located at the department’s Emergency Operations Center, 651 9th Avenue SW in Bessemer.
“It’s pretty risky to go meet anybody nowadays with what you see happening on the news, not only in our state but other states as well,’’ he said. “If only that was used yesterday, we wouldn’t be having this (news) conference today.”