Tuscaloosa Authorities Pinpoint Causes Behind Crime Wave

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Tuscaloosa detectives and city leaders are still looking for concrete answers behind the city’s recent crime epidemic, but they can now point to at least two likely causes — drugs and convicted criminals released early from jail.

The most recent murder happened at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, when a Mercedes went careening across several lawns and then slammed into a garage. The driver was already dead when detectives arrived on the scene, identified by family members as 29-year-old Eddie Porter. Neighbors said they saw someone shoot Porter shortly before the accident and detectives confirmed Porter died as a result of gunshot wounds.

Porter is Tuscaloosa’s fourth homicide in a week, and the third case where the suspects are still at large. Officers confirmed that all four cases involve illegal drug activity and at least two of the men charged in one of the murders, Reginald D’Andre White and his brother, Sherman White, were released from jail before serving their full sentences. City leaders are now demanding the state stop releasing prisoners ahead of schedule, no matter whether they’re paroled or freed on account of their good behavior.

Releasing prisoners who are considered non-violent early from jail is a relatively new practice in Alabama and city leaders plan to launch a campaign protesting the practice.

“That’s not asking too much. That’s just asking them to do what a judge and jury already told them to do. When you put them back into the community, it causes all sorts of problems besides murder: theft, drug crimes. Problems we’re now seeing (manifested) in our community,” said Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.

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Tuscaloosa Authorities Pinpoint Causes Behind Crime Wave
NBC 13