Man shot to death in Montgomery days after moving to Alabama: ‘His new start of life ended’
A man shot to death in a Montgomery park had just moved to Alabama two days before to get a fresh start in life.
Tommy Berg was killed just before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“His new start of life ended today with us getting the phone call of him being shot and killed,’’ his sister, Ashley Berg, said on a GoFundMe for her slain brother.
“My brother suffered with schizophrenia,’’ she wrote, “and didn’t deserve to be murdered. He may say weird things at times, but he was still human.”
Police officials said officers and medics were dispatched to Vaughn Park on a report of a person shot. Berg was found wounded and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Details of the circumstances surrounding his death have not been released.
Montgomery police Lt. David Wise said Wednesday no new updates were available about the killing, which authorities have labeled a death investigation.
Berg moved to Montgomery from Indiana where he had lived in the small town of Plymouth and worked as a mechanic and in automobile restoration.
He was the father of a 12-year-old boy named Owen, according to his ex-wife, attorney Rebecca Collins.
Tommy Berg, a 38-year-old man who moved to Alabama from Indiana on March 9, 2025, was shot to death two days later in Montgomery park.(Special to AL.com)
The high school sweethearts married in 2010 but later divorced. Collins, who has since remarried, said Berg became ill in 2012 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“Like most people with schizophrenia, he doesn’t think he needs medication,’’ Collins said. “He’s not a violent person.”
“He wouldn’t ever just go up and randomly attack somebody at a park,’’ Collins said. “If anything, he probably said some strange things because he’s got a lot of paranoia. It’s possible he may have told something that sounded crazy. “
The family is upset by the lack of information given to them by police.
“I am so beyond frustrated that the police department is not giving us any information,’’ Collins said. “I’m not even 100 percent sure where his body is right now.”
What little she has heard about the circumstances has come from social media and Berg’s girlfriend, who was there but did not actually witness the shooting.
“She said they went to the park. She said she thought he was maybe being paranoid and was talking with a woman and a child and then she walked away,’’ Collins said.
“She said a man approached him and shot him in the chest. I don’t know if that man knew the woman.”
“I found three different people on Facebook that posted about it – one said she had tried to save his life and said she asked the guy who shot him to help, and I think he did’’ she said, adding that another post said there was some type of argument.
“There’s a lot of different stories,’’ Collins said.
Collins described Berg as a good person with a good heart.
“He’s never forgotten about his son, ever,’’ she said. “We’ve maintained contact, and he’s always called to check on Owen. He would always do anything to help his kid and give him the last dime to his name.”
“He loved his son a lot,’’ she said.
She said she never knew Berg to be violent and said he was against guns.
Collins said she wants people to remember Berg for who he was before he got sick.
“I feel like some many people look at someone who is mentally ill and think, ‘Oh they’re crazy, you can’t talk to them,’ but he was still a person,’’ she said. “He was funny, and he had a lot of special characteristics.”
- Berg’s sister has started the GoFundMe to get help in returning Berg’s body to Indiana. Donations can be made here.
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