‘A random situation.’ Chance encounter led to fatal shooting in Russell County, sheriff says
A chance encounter on a secluded country road led to the Dec. 30 fatal shooting of 63-year-old Randolph Cannon of Hurtsboro, Alabama, Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said Sunday.
Cannon was walking his dog along Shady Grove Lane around 9:30 a.m. that Monday when he happened upon a car occupied by 20-year-old Deontra Jones and a woman, and stopped to ask why they were on his property, Taylor said.
Jones got out of the car, pulled a gun and started shooting as Cannon tried to run away, the sheriff said.
“He chased him down the road,” Taylor said, “and he ultimately shot him multiple times, killing him.”
When Cannon did not return from his morning stroll, his wife went looking for him, and found the body about a half-mile from their home, the sheriff said. Cannon’s dog, unharmed, was lying on the ground beside him.
The circumstances left investigators with little to go on.
“It was on a county road, a dirt road, no residences,” Taylor said. “No one was a witness. No one saw anything to be able to really amount to anything. ... This was a random situation.”
But two tips soon gave authorities the leads they needed, and a $5,000 reward helped, the sheriff said: “More than likely I will be splitting the reward with both of the tips that came in.”
The last tip came in a phone call Friday night to sheriff’s Lt. Jarrod Barr, enabling investigators Saturday to arrest Jones, who lives on Macon County Road 5 in Union Springs, Taylor said.
“As a result of that, he has confessed to us what occurred, and we believe the evidence will show what he confessed to actually happened,” the sheriff said.
Officers also found the woman who was with Jones, he said. “Right now she’s cooperating with us, so we haven’t charged her at this point.”
He declined to identify the woman or give her age.
Jones has been charged with murder, Taylor said.
He said investigators believe the suspect may have been using drugs before the confrontation: “I think that’s going to play a part in it. I think he was probably on some type of narcotic.”
Authorities have yet to locate the weapon Jones used, Taylor said: “We’re still looking for the firearm.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 10:29 AM.