A gunman accused of killing a University of Alabama student, a father of three and a dog at their pet-sitting home was known to his victims as a former colleague, police have revealed.
De’Kendrick Crawford, 24, was charged with murder after Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, and her boyfriend Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, 31, were found dead in a home in Brookwood, Ala., on Monday. WVTM reports this.
Bates and Alvarez-Duenas, who both worked at a restaurant in Tuscaloosa, were discovered at the property – after the homeowner, who was not in the US, noticed a suspicious person on her porch in the early hours while checking her home’s security cameras.
“We were able to identify who that suspicious individual was that was seen on the doorbell cameras,” Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Chief Jack Kennedy said Tuesday.
“That person turned out to be known to everyone there, including the main resident, they all used to work together at a local company.
“They all worked together, they all knew each other and had social interactions together at some point in the past.”
Alvarez-Duenas, a single father of three, and Bates worked together at Buffalo Phil’s restaurant in Tuscaloosa. She was scheduled to graduate from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in December.
Kennedy said the “crucial” security camera footage sped up the identification process.
The bodies of Bates and Alvarez-Duenas were found shortly after arriving at the home for a welfare check.
The homeowner had become concerned about Alvarez-Duenas’ well-being after she was unable to contact him.
“Immediately after the front door was opened, there was a deceased male on the floor who was identified as the person who was babysitting her,” Kennedy said.
“Once they cleared the home, they were able to find a second deceased person, a female,” Kennedy said. “She was in the back bedroom in a closet.”
Crawford was not home when police arrived — and he was later found at a relative’s apartment in Northport — about 22 miles from Brookwood.
He was arrested after an hours-long standoff and ten hours after the two bodies were found.
“After four hours of tactical operations that included drones, tear gas, breaching walls and doors and searching attics with K-9s, he never gave up. He cared more about himself than the victims,” Kennedy said.
Police are still investigating a motive.
“We don’t know why he targeted them. They did nothing wrong,” Kennedy said.
“They had done nothing to him. None of his acquaintances know why this happened.”
At the time of the shooting, Crawford was wanted on a firearms offense — dating back to May, where he allegedly opened fire at a building on the University of Alabama campus.
“He was not an employee of the University of Alabama. He worked for some type of construction or some other type of company that was contracted to UA,” Kennedy said.
“He was discharged there and as he drove away, he fired several shots out the window of a vehicle. Some of those shots struck a building near the Coleman Coliseum.”
Crawford appeared in court Wednesday on charges of murder and a firearms offense. He was denied a surety, WBMA reports this.
He could face more charges, including animal cruelty, police said.
