SMITHS STATION, Ala. (WRBL) — A Phenix City man is charge with murder after investigators say he shot his friend during a deadly confrontation Sunday evening at a Smiths Station mobile home park.
According to Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones, deputies responded around 6:32 p.m. to Sawyer's Mobile Home Park off Lee Road 246 after receiving a 911 call reporting a shooting. Deputies arrived within minutes and found 34-year-old Anthony Levi Hodge, of Smiths Station, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Hodge was taken to Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:35 p.m. Coroner Daniel Sexton says Hodge's body will be transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery for a postmortem examination.
Sheriff Jones says the suspect, 20-year-old Jeremy Chandler Wiggins of Phenix City, was sitting inside his vehicle with his girlfriend in Hodge's yard when the confrontation occurred. Hodge reportedly approached the vehicle, and investigators say Wiggins fired a single shot from inside, striking Hodge.
A short time later, deputies received another 911 call from a woman who said she was in a vehicle with the shooter and they were leaving the area. Deputies directed them to stop, and they pulled into the parking lot of Terry's Grocery, where Wiggins was taken into custody without incident.
Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun believed to have been used in the shooting. Wiggins is charged with murder – domestic violence and is being held in the Lee County Jail without bond.
Sheriff Jones says the two men were friends.
"Apparently, there was some sort of a dispute between the victim and the now defendant that led to the shooting," Sheriff Jones said. "They were acquainted, even friends. The families involved here are friends. Just a very unfortunate circumstance."
Jones called it another tragic example of a disagreement ending in gunfire.
"It's an unfortunate example of a dispute being settled by the use of a firearm," he said. "We always urge people to settle disagreements peacefully."
The Lee County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate.
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