Court testimony traced a 29-minute chain of events from a Walmart aisle to a confrontation outside a nearby restaurant.
SUMITON, Ala. — Stephen Morrow called police twice during an encounter that began with an accidental shopping-cart bump inside a Walmart, telling authorities during the second call that he did not want another shopper to learn where he lived, investigators testified.
About 29 minutes after the original dispute, Morrow was shot in a restaurant parking lot across from the store. The 46-year-old husband and father later died at UAB Hospital. Police arrested 18-year-old Timothy Braden Crawford and charged him with murder. Crawford’s lawyers say he fired in self-defense after Morrow broke a passenger-side window on his truck and attempted to get inside. Prosecutors have emphasized the allegation that Crawford followed Morrow after the argument, turning the passage of time and movement between locations into central parts of the case.
The first known stage unfolded June 3 inside the Walmart on Highway 78. Assistant Chief Scott Lawler testified that Morrow accidentally struck another teenager with his cart. The contact led to a verbal confrontation in which Crawford became involved, investigators said. The available reports do not describe any serious injury from the cart or indicate that Morrow and Crawford knew each other beforehand. The encounter nevertheless continued after the men separated inside the store.
Morrow made his first 911 call from just outside the Walmart. A store employee remained with him and his wife, Kayla Morrow, while they waited for officers, according to Lawler’s testimony. Crawford was not arrested inside the store. The Morrows eventually resumed shopping, a decision suggesting that they expected the immediate disagreement to end there. Investigators said the couple later chose another exit when they were ready to leave.
That change did not end the encounter. Investigators testified that Crawford followed the couple after they left the Walmart. Morrow called 911 again because he was concerned that Crawford might discover where he lived, Lawler said. Reporting based on court records described Crawford as waiting for Morrow to leave and then pursuing him by vehicle. Crawford allegedly acknowledged during a police interview that he followed Morrow after the store confrontation, though the defense disputes the prosecution’s broader interpretation of his conduct.
The vehicles eventually reached the parking lot of Las Reyes 2 Mexican Restaurant, part of a small shopping area near the Walmart. It was there that the dispute became a close confrontation around Crawford’s truck. The defense says Morrow broke the truck’s passenger-side window and tried to enter. Other reporting on the hearing said Morrow reached inside the vehicle. Crawford then fired, striking Morrow. The public accounts do not provide a complete second-by-second record of the final encounter, and the shooting’s lawfulness has not been decided.
The defense position focuses on the danger Crawford says he faced at the truck. Attorney Sam Bentley argued that the broken window and alleged attempt to enter the vehicle gave Crawford grounds to protect himself. Self-defense claims generally turn on the circumstances at the moment force is used, but the events leading to that moment can also become significant. Prosecutors contend that Crawford’s alleged decision to follow Morrow after the Walmart argument cannot be separated from what happened in the restaurant parking lot.
Investigators also challenged an account Crawford allegedly gave after the shooting. Lawler testified that Crawford claimed Morrow had tried to run him off the road. According to the assistant chief, video evidence contradicted that claim. Authorities have not publicly released all of the recordings they reviewed, and reports from the bond hearing did not fully describe what each camera captured. The existence of video could be important as attorneys test the accuracy of statements made by Crawford, witnesses and investigators.
Officers responded to the shooting shortly before 9 p.m. and found Morrow critically wounded. Crawford’s truck was gone when police arrived. Investigators recovered two projectiles, a shell casing, a bloody handprint and a bloody towel from the scene, Lawler said. The items may help establish where people and vehicles were positioned, but no laboratory findings or full forensic reconstruction were disclosed in the reports reviewed for this article.
Police traced Crawford’s truck to his family’s home on Bankhead Highway in Dora. Investigators found a 9-millimeter handgun inside the vehicle. Crawford’s parents contacted authorities after he returned, and he later turned himself in. He was interviewed with his parents present. The surrender ended the search for a suspect, but it did not settle the conflicting accounts of who drove the escalation or whether the use of deadly force was justified.
Kayla Morrow witnessed the shooting and later shared her husband’s final words. She said he told her, “Kayla, I’m dying and I love you.” In another statement, she wrote that she continued to see the scene when she closed her eyes. Morrow’s comments were reported as his last message to his wife as he lay wounded. Family members also described the effect of his death on their son, while a fundraiser was established to help with funeral expenses and the family’s immediate needs.
The chronology emerged publicly during a June 9 hearing held under Alabama’s Aniah’s Law. Prosecutors used the hearing to ask that Crawford be detained without bond as an alleged danger to the community. The defense highlighted his age, lack of a prior criminal record, employment and developmental conditions. Crawford’s father testified that his son has dyslexia, is on the autism spectrum and completed his education through Penn Foster after being bullied.
Judge Henry Allred said Crawford was a danger but found that the state had not satisfied the requirements for holding him without bond. He set a $250,000 cash-only bond and ordered strict restrictions if Crawford is released. Those conditions include house arrest, no social media activity and no contact with the friends who accompanied him on the night of the shooting. Reports also identified firearm and no-contact restrictions. The bond ruling determined only the conditions of pretrial release.
The 29-minute interval is important because it distinguishes the case from a single sudden clash. The evidence described in court points to pauses, renewed movement, two requests for police help, an exit through another part of the store and travel to a separate parking lot. Prosecutors may argue that those intervals created opportunities to disengage. The defense may argue that whatever happened earlier did not eliminate Crawford’s right to respond to an immediate threat at his vehicle. Both arguments remain untested before a trial jury.
The case also leaves questions about what officers knew during the two 911 calls, how quickly units were dispatched and whether the callers or store personnel received instructions before the shooting. The public reports reviewed do not include recordings or transcripts of the calls. They also do not state whether officers reached the Walmart before the Morrows resumed shopping or before the vehicles left the area. Without those records, conclusions about the police response would be premature.
Workers near the shooting scene told local news outlets that the death left them trying to understand how a routine dispute became fatal. The setting added to that concern: a major retail store and neighboring businesses where families and employees were going about ordinary evening activities. Police have not reported that any bystander was struck. The shooting nevertheless changed a common commercial area into a homicide scene and required investigators to gather evidence from multiple locations.
Crawford remains accused of murder and is presumed innocent unless convicted. His self-defense claim has not been accepted or rejected by a trial court, and no verdict or other final resolution was identified in the latest reliable reporting reviewed. The unanswered legal question is not simply what occurred at the truck, but how the entire 29-minute sequence should affect responsibility for Morrow’s death.
Author note: Last updated July 15, 2026.