Rivers Langley; SaveRivers, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Quiet Morning Turned Tragic: Alexander City Mourns Loss After Deadly Shooting
It was just another Saturday in Alexander City. Warm, quiet, the kind of morning where not much happens. But that changed quickly — and violently.
Somewhere around mid-morning, police were called to a home on Washington Street. What they found inside was devastating. A man, 32-year-old Toyias Gopher, had been shot. Multiple times. He died there in his own home. Just like that.
People around the neighborhood couldn’t believe it. Some stood on their porches, watching as officers moved in and out of the house. Others just shook their heads, too stunned to speak.
By that afternoon, the story started to take shape. Two names came out — Steven Abercrombie, 22, and Quamaine Etchison, 27. Both now sit in the county jail, facing capital murder charges. Police say they were involved in a burglary earlier that day. Guns were stolen. Then, for reasons still unclear, they ended up at Gopher’s house.
No one’s really saying why. Or what exactly happened inside. Only that Toyias didn’t make it.
The local District Attorney decided to step aside — something about a conflict — so the case is being handled by the state. Things like this don’t usually happen here, and when they do, they shake the whole town.
People who knew Toyias say he mostly kept to himself. He wasn’t known for trouble. One neighbor described him as “quiet, polite, just a good guy.” Now he’s gone, and folks are left trying to make sense of it.
There’s a heaviness in the air this week. You can feel it. The kind of weight that doesn’t lift easily. Doors are being locked a little earlier. Lights left on a little longer. The kind of fear that stays.
And still, the question that everyone’s asking, even if no one says it out loud: How does something like this happen here?
