Suspect charged with murder in killing of 55-year-old man outside southwest Birmingham home

Formal charges have been filed against the suspect in the Friday shooting death of a 55-year-old man in southwest Birmingham.

Kishande Jamarrius Huckabee, 24, is charged with murder in killing of Renard “Keith” West.

Huckabee was taken into custody within minutes of West’s slaying, and still had a gun on him, police said.

He was held in the Birmingham City Jail until the warrant was obtained. He was then transferred to the Jefferson County Jail Saturday afternoon.

Shortly after 4:30 a.m., the city’s gunfire detection system – Shot Spotter – indicated several rounds fired in the 1000 block of Cotton Avenue. Police then received a call that someone had been shot.

Officers arrived to find the victim in the front yard of a home. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced him dead on the scene.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said community members were able to provide a description of the suspect. Police found Huckabee walking not far from the crime scene and took him into custody without incident.

He was armed at the time of his capture, Fitzgerald said.

A 55-year-old Birmingham man was shot to death Friday morning when police believe he went to investigate a commotion outside the home where he was living.(Carol Robinson)

The suspect was handcuffed and photographed at the scene, and then taken to police headquarters for questioning.

“We don’t know the motive,’’ Fitzgerald said. “The victim may have been trying to see what was going. There may have been a commotion nearby and he stepped outside his residence to see what was going on.”

West had been staying at a cousin’s house on Cotton Avenue and often slept on the porch.

“It’s so hurtful, said West’s brother, Rufus Ricks.

“He was a big-hearted person,’’ Ricks said. “He’d give you anything he had.”

It did not appear that West was initially targeted, and police said they don’t believe the two men knew each other, or at least knew each other well.

“We don’t have any indication the suspect knew the victim, which is very alarming,’’ Fitzgerald said.

Huckabee, who has multiple prior arrests and felony convictions, remains held without bond.