Police have spent weeks reconstructing an attack witnessed by members of a traveling festival security crew.
BESSEMER, Ala. — Seven minutes before a charter bus was scheduled to resume its trip to New Orleans, police received a call reporting a disturbance among security workers aboard the vehicle in a Walmart parking lot. By the end of the afternoon, one worker was dead, two others were injured and a coworker was in custody.
The June 15 confrontation left investigators with a crowded bus, about 40 potential witnesses and differing early reports about how many people had been stabbed. Police ultimately said three people were stabbed: 22-year-old Darryel Sutton, who died, and two surviving victims. Pierre Seymour Eskew, 35, now faces murder, attempted murder, menacing and marijuana possession charges.
Authorities say the violence followed tension that had developed during the workers’ return trip from Tennessee. The group had provided event security at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester and was traveling home to Louisiana. Police Sgt. Christopher Selman said the dispute had been building for “several hours, possibly days,” according to local news reports. Investigators connected the conflict to a female coworker who had declined Eskew’s romantic interest.
The bus stopped at the Walmart on Academy Drive for a scheduled lunch and snack break. Its planned departure time was about 1:20 p.m. Some passengers left the vehicle to buy food or use the store during the stop. Sutton later returned and moved toward the back of the bus, where Eskew was already present, police said. Authorities have not released a minute-by-minute account of what was said after Sutton boarded. At approximately 1:13 p.m., officers and firefighters were sent to the parking lot. The first public description from the Bessemer Police Department said emergency personnel found four people with stab wounds after an altercation on the bus. That account was widely repeated before police revised the number. A later update said three people had been stabbed, while the charges also included alleged threats against other people.
The correction matters because the criminal counts divide the episode into several alleged acts. Sutton’s death is the basis for the murder charge. Two surviving victims are tied to the attempted murder counts. Three menacing counts allege additional threatening conduct. Police have not publicly released the names of the surviving victims or explained each count in detail, leaving some parts of the confrontation known only to investigators, witnesses and the people involved.
Sutton was critically injured and taken to UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Police later announced that he had died. One surviving victim underwent surgery and was initially reported in critical condition. Selman said the injury threatened the person’s ability to use an arm. Another victim sustained less serious injuries and was recovering. No comprehensive public medical update has been issued since the days immediately following the attack.
The physical setting created unusual challenges for first responders and investigators. A charter bus has narrow aisles, rows of seats and limited entrances, and dozens of passengers had been traveling together for hours. Police had to arrange treatment for the wounded, secure the suspect, separate witnesses and preserve the interior as a crime scene. Investigators also had to determine which injuries and threats corresponded to each proposed criminal charge.
Witness accounts are likely to be central as the case proceeds. Nearly 40 workers had been aboard the bus or were nearby during the Walmart stop, though authorities have not said how many directly saw the confrontation. Some may have witnessed events before the stop, including the dispute police say had been developing. Others may be able to describe the positions of Sutton, Eskew and the surviving victims immediately before or after the alleged attack.
Police also may examine phone communications and any video recorded inside or near the bus, although authorities have not publicly confirmed what recordings were recovered. The Walmart parking lot and surrounding businesses may have exterior cameras, but such footage would not necessarily show what happened inside the vehicle. No relevant video has been released publicly, and the available police accounts do not say whether the charter bus had an interior camera system.
The workers were employed by Fess Security Inc., which had sent personnel to the festival in Tennessee. The company declined to comment when contacted soon after the attack. It has not publicly described its supervision of the trip, whether managers had been informed of the dispute or what policies governed weapons aboard the bus. Those unanswered workplace questions are separate from the criminal case, which focuses on the conduct police attribute to Eskew.
After officers processed the scene, the trip continued without the original group remaining together on the same bus. A second charter vehicle was dispatched to collect the uninjured workers and return them to Louisiana. The replacement trip marked the practical end of the group’s stop in Bessemer, but the location remained tied to an investigation involving police, the coroner’s office, hospital personnel and prosecutors.
Sutton was identified by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office as a New Orleans resident. Public accounts have provided little additional information about his life, family or work history. Authorities have kept their statements focused on the investigation and the conditions of those injured. Police have also withheld the identity of the female employee whose rejection of Eskew was cited as a source of tension.
That woman’s decision not to accept a coworker’s romantic interest does not make her responsible for another person’s alleged violence. Police have described the rejected advance as background to the dispute, not as unlawful conduct by the woman. Her privacy has been maintained, and investigators have not said she was physically injured. Reports also have not established whether she witnessed the confrontation or was on the bus when it began.
Eskew was arrested and booked into the Jefferson County Jail in Bessemer. Police announced one murder count, two attempted murder counts, three menacing counts and a second-degree marijuana possession charge. The sheriff’s online record lists him as a pretrial inmate. He has not been convicted, and the prosecution must prove any charge pursued in court beyond a reasonable doubt. The case has since moved beyond the initial witness-gathering stage. After a detention proceeding under Alabama’s Aniah’s Law, a judge ordered Eskew to remain held without bond. The court also directed that he receive an outpatient competency evaluation and required defense counsel to submit the necessary application by Aug. 31. The order did not release medical conclusions or explain what prompted the request.
A competency review addresses whether a defendant can understand court proceedings and assist in a defense. It does not determine whether the charged conduct occurred, and it is not a verdict on criminal responsibility. The evaluation now proceeds as prosecutors prepare to present the case to a Jefferson County grand jury, which will consider whether to return indictments.
Investigators have not announced further arrests or publicly added charges. Eskew remained jailed without bond as of Sunday. The grand jury review, the competency process and any future public update on the surviving victims are the next major developments expected in a case that began during an ordinary roadside break and quickly became a complex workplace homicide investigation.
Author note: Last updated July 19, 2026.