Juvenile, teen arrested in connection with drive-by shooting that killed 2, including 2-year-old

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (TCD) -- A juvenile and a 19-year-old were arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting that killed two people over the weekend, including a toddler.

The Tuscaloosa Police Department announced March 14 that the Violent Crime Unit located 19-year-old Tyrese Bell and charged him with two counts of murder. Tuscaloosa News reports a juvenile was taken into custody on a capital murder charge.

On Sunday, March 13, at approximately 4:30 p.m., Tuscaloosa Police responded to a shooting call at a home on the 3000 block of 19th Street, according to Tuscaloosa News. Witnesses reportedly told police that three to four people in a white sedan shot at the residence’s front yard and drove away.

Twenty-five-year-old Marcus Winston Jr. and 2-year-old Ashton Jones were killed in the shooting, AL.com reports. Winston was reportedly declared dead at the scene, but Ashton was transported to DCH Regional Medical Center, where he died.

According to court records cited by AL.com, Bell reportedly "admitted to driving with a juvenile co-defendant a rear passenger on March 13, 2022, when the juvenile co-defendant fired multiple rounds from the vehicle which struck and killed the victims."

Tuscaloosa County Jail records show Bell was charged with two counts of murder and is being held on $3 million bond. According to AL.com, Bell served time in jail after pleading guilty to a shooting that occurred in November 2020.

AL.com reports Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Capt. Jack Kennedy called Sunday’s shooting a "heinous crime," adding, "There’s nothing that a 2-year-old child could do to have deserved to have brought this upon him."

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