Another Spring Break shooting in heart of Gulf Shores
Another Spring Break shooting in heart of Gulf Shores
Three shell casings found during crime exactly one year after 2023 incidentAnother Spring Break shooting in heart of Gulf Shores
Three shell casings found during crime exactly one year after 2023 incident
\ Gulf Shores Police Dept. presence was heavy and both pedestrian and vehicular traffic unusually light at the city’s main intersection on Good Friday evening, about 48 hours after a shooting that injured a juvenile, who was treated for a gunshot would to his leg and released from Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. Police have not released the victim’s name.
Jaytwon Williams, an 18-year-old from Bay Minette, was detained three hours after the shooting in the Gulf Shores Walmart parking lot after reportedly trying to break into several automobiles in the 1900 block of Gulf Shores Pkwy. while trying to flee the crime scene. Although GSPD announced he was involved, he has not been charged with being the shooter in the crime.
The shooting occurred on March 27, exactly one year after a similar incident during the 2023 spring break at the intersection of Hwy. 59 and East Beach Blvd. (Hwy. 182) in Gulf Shores. That shooting occurred in front of the Gulf condos and the shooter fired eight shots, two of which injured a juvenile. Police found three bullet casings at the scene of the recent shooting.
A GSPD press release stated that the shooting ocurred during a fight at the intersection among teens who knew each other. It stated that in addition to Williams, several other suspects were developed and the investigation remains open and active as investigators continue speaking to witnesses and reviewing available surveillance cameras and cell phone video.
Williams attempted to flee the area by gaining entry into passersby’ vehicles, according to police. He is currently charged in Gulf Shores with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct as a result of his attempts to gain entry into the vehicles during the incident. He was out of jail on bond for three counts of felony failure to appear and was transferred to the Baldwin County Jail by sheriff’s deputies on those charges.
Gulf Shores Police were already on site and police responded in force within two minutes of the incident and remained on the scene until early the next morning.
The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Gulf Shores Fire and Rescue, and the Orange Beach Police Dept were among multiple agencies who responded to help GSPD close off all roads leading to Gulf Shores Public Beach within five minutes of the shooting.
City spokesman Grant Brown said three shell-casings were recovered from the scene, and GSPD Deputy Police Chief Dan Netemeyer told Fox TV that the shooter knew the victim.
Police have not released info about the number of shots fired in the recent shooting. But just as in 2023, the shooting ocurred following a fight involving both juvenile and adult men who knew each other.
The Gulf Shores Police Department is asking anyone who was a witness or captured footage of the March 28, 2024 incident to please contact them at 251-968-243.
“This appears to be an ongoing dispute between two groups from Bay Minette who were in Gulf Shores for the evening,” Netemeyer said.
“We have a significantly strong security force with our police department. We’re a very family friendly destination. We’re blessed. We very seldom, if ever, have situations like this.” Brown said.
But an eerily similar incident did occur exactly one year earlier, March 28, 2023, at the same intersection.
Rafiq Sh’mare Joel Bradley, a 21-year-old man from Fairhope, was arrested and charged with attempted murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment in that crime.
He is accused of firing a gun that injured a juvenile boy between the Gulf Shores Public Beach pavillion and Beach Rd. near the intersection of Hwy. 59 on March 27, 2023 around 8:51 p.m. He fired eight shots in the vicinity of hundreds of spring break tourists and two of the shots hit the juvenile.
Two other adults and a juvenile were also charged with disorderly conduct stemming from the fight that led to that shooting. The same as this year, all four of those charged during that Spring Break 2023 incident lived in Baldwin County. The juvenile who was shot in 2023 was treated and released from the hospital the following morning.
According to GSPD, officers responded to a call about a fight lsat year in which one person had a gun and shots had been fired at the 100 block of Gulf Shores Pkwy. Officers arrived quickly and found one person who had been shot multiple times. They immediately located and arrested Bradley, who was found near the crime scene.
Appropriately, Baldwin County District judge Judge William Scully set a nearly $1.1 million bond on March 29 for the 21-year-old, as he could easily have hit bystanders in the area. His bond was reduced to $200,000 in February.
According to prosecutors, the shooting victim in the 2023 shooting was shot in the back while running from the scene after Bradley brandished his gun and fired at least eight rounds near the main entrance of the beach in an area where pedestrians often congregate.
Cell phone recordings making the rounds on social media last year showed a man pulling out a gun and shooting multiple times towards the Gulf of Mexico from the west sidewalk at the main entrance to Gulf Place. After firing his pistol, the man appeared to hide the weapon in bushes near where he fired the shots. None of the facebook posted videos from this year’s incident included the actual shooting.