A gunman accused of killing a University of Alabama student, a dad of three, and a dog inside the home they were pet-sitting was known to his victims as a former co-worker, cops have revealed.
De’Kendrick Crawford, 24, was charged with capital murder after Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, and her pal Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, 31, were found dead inside a Brookwood, Ala, home on Monday, WVTM reported.
Bates and Alvarez-Duenas, who both worked at a Tuscaloosa restaurant, were discovered inside the property – after the homeowner, who was out of the US, spotted someone suspicious on her back porch in the early hours when she checked her home security cameras.
“We were able to identify who that suspicious person was that was seen on the doorbell cameras,” Jack Kennedy, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Captain, said Tuesday.
“That person turned out to be an acquaintance of everyone there, including the primary resident, they used to all work together at a local business.
“They all worked together, they all knew each other and socialized together at some point in the past.”
Alvarez-Duenas, a single dad to three kids, and Bates worked together at the Buffalo Phil’s restaurant in Tuscaloosa. She was set to graduate from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in December.
Kennedy said the “crucial” security camera footage sped up the identification process.
Bates and Alvarez-Duenas’ bodies were found moments after arriving at the home for a welfare check.
The homeowner had grown concerned for Alvarez-Duenas’ welfare after she was unable to contact him.
“Immediately upon opening the front door, there was a deceased male lying on the floor that was identified as the person that was house-sitting for her,” Kennedy said.
“Upon clearing the residence, they were able to find a second deceased individual, a female,” Kennedy said. “She was in the back bedroom in a closet.”
Crawford wasn’t at the home when police arrived – and he was later found at a relative’s apartment in Northport – around 22 miles from Brookwood.
He was arrested after an hours-long standoff and 10 hours after the two bodies were found.
“After four hours of tactical operations including drones, tear gas, walls and doors being breached and attics being searched with K-9s, yeah, he never gave up. He cared more about himself than the victims,” Kennedy said.
Police are still probing a motive. “We don’t know why he targeted them. They were not doing anything wrong,” Kennedy said.
“They had done nothing wrong to him. None of his acquaintances know why this occurred.”
At the time of the shooting, Crawford was wanted over a firearm offense – dating back to May, where he allegedly opened fire at a building on the University of Alabama campus.
“He was not a University of Alabama employee. He worked for some type of construction or some other type of company that was contracted at UA,” Kennedy said.
“He was terminated from his job out there and as he drove away, fired some shots out the window of a vehicle. Some of those shots struck a building near Coleman Coliseum.”
Crawford appeared in court Wednesday on capital murder charges and the firearm offense. He was denied bond, WBMA reported.
He could face more charges such as animal cruelty, police said.
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