Two suspects, Delvin Roshawn Phillips, 20, and Freddie Laron Smith, 20, shot multiple fires from the doorstep of 26-year-old Terry Dawson’s apartment at Boardwalk of Brittain Landing in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 30. Phillips and Smith are currently being held at the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond.
The third suspect, Joshua Marquese Coston, 18, turned himself in to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation’s Thomasville Office in Clark County. He was also charged with capital murder and is being held at the Clark County Jail until he can be transported to Tuscaloosa.
“We believe that robbery was the initial motive and we believe that something happened during the course of that attempted robbery,” Lt. Kip Hart with the Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit told WVTM13.
WVTM13 reported that authorities believed the suspects were acquainted with the victim and likely looking for money or drugs. They also noted that authorities said Dawson was in the path of gunfire as the suspects were standing outside when they began shooting into it.
“Some of the rounds even exited the apartment on the back side and went into another apartment, so we’re very lucky that no one else was injured,” Hart told WVTM13.