Police Say Teenager Fatally Shot in West Tuscaloosa Was Committing Robbery

Police believe a deadly shootout in west Tuscaloosa earlier this month began as an attempted robbery, according to court documents filed in the wake of the city's 18th homicide this year.

As the Thread previously reported, police responded to Beech Street near Kaulton Field on November 13th on reports of a shooting there.

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They found three males suffering from gunshot wounds - court documents say 18-year-old Keandre Simmons had been shot in the head, 19-year-old Jarrell Hodges was struck in the chest, and a third person was shot in the face.

All three were taken to DCH Regional Medical Center for treatment, but Simmons did not survive.

The multi-agency Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit began processing physical evidence and interviewing witnesses and victims and now believe Simmons and Hodges were perpetrators, not victims, of violent crime that Wednesday afternoon.

The VCU says Jarrell Hodges, pictured above, and Keandre Simmons were "in the act of an armed robbery against" the third victim, who exchanged gunfire with the young men and struck both.

Hodges, not the third male, has been charged with felony murder for Simmons' death because police say it was their alleged robbery that led to the fatal gunfight.

The 19-year-old has since been released from the Tuscaloosa County Jail on a $100,000 bond to a monitored house arrest.

The 18 homicides in Tuscaloosa this year exceed a record-high 16 in 2006.