A man seeking revenge for a shooting that occurred hours earlier kicked in the door of the wrong apartment and fatally shot a 74-year-old man.
Mobile, Alabama police say James Jones’ death was a case of mistaken identity. Officers want to talk to DeAngelo Demetrius Merrill, 28, the suspect in the shooting.
The shooting is linked to an earlier shooting that occurred at about 10:40 p.m. in the 500 block of Williams Street.
Interim Police Chief Roy Hodge said James Walters, 47, was having a verbal argument with his twin daughters, allegedly over their inappropriate twerking on TikTok.
As the argument escalated, another man intervened and shot Walters multiple times, killing him.
“The preliminary investigation indicates Mr. Walters produced a firearm,” Chief Hodges said. “The other individual produced his firearm and shot Mr. Walters in what appears to be self-defense, based on the information that we have so far.”
Police say a 23-year-old woman at the scene was hit by a stray bullet and is in critical condition.
Hodges said the woman’s boyfriend is Merrill, who wasn’t at the house at the time of the shooting.
When Merrill found out about the shooting, he grabbed a gun and headed to Pathways Apartments on Florida Street where he kicked in the wrong door and shot Jones multiple times.
Merrill was out on bond on drug charges at the time of the shooting. Police say he is armed and extremely dangerous.
The twerking twins were not injured. The sisters, who post under the username @fam0us.twinsss, said they received “deaf” threats online.