An Alabama father was shot and killed after what police say began as a minor encounter inside a Walmart and escalated into a deadly confrontation outside.
Stephen Morrow died after he was allegedly followed out of a Walmart in Sumiton by an angry shopper and shot in a nearby parking lot.
His wife, Kayla Morrow, later shared the heartbreaking final words she said he spoke as he bled out.
“Kayla, I’m dying and I love you,” Stephen told her, according to a Facebook post she made after the tragedy.
“Every time I close my eyes all I can see is the scene happening,” Kayla wrote.
According to court documents obtained by local ABC affiliate WBMA, the incident began when 18-year-old Timothy Braden Crawford was shopping at Walmart and Stephen Morrow accidentally bumped into a teen with his shopping cart.
Police said that led to a verbal altercation involving Crawford.
Stephen reportedly called Sumiton police, then continued shopping with his wife afterward. Investigators said Crawford was not taken into custody at that time.
But according to court documents, Crawford later followed the Morrows outside.
Stephen was in a nearby parking lot when authorities say another confrontation happened. During that encounter, Crawford allegedly shot him.
Police said Crawford fled in his truck after the shooting. His vehicle was later tracked to his parents’ home. Authorities said Crawford was arrested after his parents called police so he could turn himself in.
“Following the investigation, an arrest has been made and … Crawford has been charged with murder,” the Sumiton Police Department said in a Facebook post.
Authorities said Crawford initially tried to claim he acted in self-defense, alleging Stephen had attempted to run him off the road with his vehicle.
But investigators said video evidence contradicted that version of events. Crawford also allegedly admitted to following Stephen after the Walmart shopping cart incident.
During a court hearing last week, Crawford’s defense attorney argued that Stephen had broken the passenger-side window of Crawford’s truck and tried to get inside.
Crawford’s parents also testified that he has dyslexia and is on the autism spectrum, which they said has left him with less mental maturity than most people his age, according to WBMA.
Prosecutors pushed back, arguing that Crawford was a danger to the community as they laid out the allegations against him.
Crawford was being held in Walker County on a $250,000 bond.
For Stephen Morrow’s family, the horror of what happened has been impossible to escape. What reportedly started as an accidental bump with a shopping cart ended with a husband and father dying in a parking lot, leaving his loved ones devastated.
