Man shot dead on front porch in North Titusville neighborhood, police investigating

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - The Birmingham Police Department is investigating a homicide they say happened Tuesday afternoon in the North Titusville neighborhood.

Police were called to investigate in the 300 block of Iota Avenue.

A public information officer for Birmingham Police says a man was found dead on the front porch of a home just before 5 p.m.

Birmingham Police say they were notified after their ShotSpotter system detected two shots fired in the area.

Family on the scene identified the man as 45-year-old Derrick Blackmon, and say he lived at the home with his girlfriend.

“I was in shock,” said Sylvia Stephens, Blackmon’s cousin, describing when she first learned the news from Blackmon’s sister. “She turned around and called me right back, and I’m like in my mind, you know you don’t want to think negative, and I’m like in my mind like, ‘what’s wrong?’ and then she got on the phone and said they did this to Derrick, and all I could do was just scream and holler myself and then when I got here I just…went out.”

Stephens said her cousin dealt with a few problems early in life, but described him as a good person. She said Blackmon worked odd jobs and had lots of family and friends, many of whom gathered at the scene, grieving.

She said her cousin was especially close with her own son, since the two were just a year apart in age.

“They was just like brothers, so its going to be kind of hard for my son too as well,” Stephens said.

Officer De’rell Freeman with Birmingham Police says they do not believe there is a threat to the public, and that they are now focused on finding a suspect.

“We have families, we have community members who have lost a loved one,” Freeman said. “So we do want to just stick to this one and do everything we can to solve this one at hand.”

Right now, both Birmingham Police and Blackmon’s family are urging anyone who has any information to contact police.

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.