An 18-year-old has been charged in the May shooting death of another teen in Birmingham.
Cameron Jayveon Scales, of Bessemer, is charged with murder in the May 15 slaying of 18-year-old Ja’Quavius James “Quay” Weston, Birmingham police announced Wednesday.
Scales was taken into custody Wednesday in the 1000 block of Huckleberry Lane in Hoover by the Birmingham Police Department’s Special Enforcement Division and Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies. He was then booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 3:54 p.m. and remains held without bond.
West Precinct officers responded to the Ensley Highlands neighborhood at 11:23 p.m. that Wednesday after dispatchers received two Shot Spotter alerts in the area, one registering 12 rounds and the other indicating six rounds.
The location was in the 2400 block of Avenue W.
Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said when officers arrived, they encountered two people who lived in that area.
They told police they had just arrived home and didn’t see anything unusual or hear any shots fired.
A young Birmingham man was shot to death outside his family’s home Wednesday, May 15, 2024, on Avenue W.(Carol Robinson)
However, they reported that another family member had called them saying shots were fired outside the home.
Wade said officers canvassed the area but did not find any houses or cars that appeared to be damaged by bullets. They didn’t see anything unusual and left.
At 11:53 p.m., police were called back to the home.
Wade said after officers left the first time, the family continued to the investigate the area and that’s when they found Weston about 15 feet into a wooded area near their house.
Weston was unresponsive on the ground and pronounced dead by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service at 12:07 a.m.
Wade said investigators learned a family member heard the victim on the phone engaged in an argument with someone. Soon after, shots were fired, and she did not see the victim after that.
A motive has not been disclosed.
