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Hoover police are asking residents of the Lake Cyrus community to review and potentially share their home surveillance footage to help with investigation of a murder that took place this morning.
Surveillance footage, especially in the area of Parkside Circle, could possibly help police figure out who shot a 33-year-old Lake Cyrus resident as he left his home to go the gym about 5 a.m., Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector said this afternoon during a press conference at the Hoover Public Safety Center.
“Many homeowners now have home security systems, and anyone that has a camera that may have been pointed toward the street or toward their front yard area, no matter where they live, if they’re in that Lake Cyrus neighborhood, particularly on Parkside Circle, please review that video surveillance footage," Rector said. "If you have anything that you think even might be useful, then please come forward.”
The shooting occurred in the 5500 block of Parkside Circle around 4:55 a.m.
Rector said the victim was shot once in the chest and pronounced dead at the scene. His wife called police to report the shooting.
“I’ve also recently received information that he is an Iraqi war veteran,” Rector said. “This is an individual who served his country. He’s a hard-working guy. He lives in a nice subdivision … He’s providing for his wife and kids, and then he encounters a ruthless individual who it may be the case that stealing something from a car is more important than human life.”
After police responded to the scene, they received several calls regarding car break-ins in the same area. At least 10 car burglaries occurred on Parkside Circle prior to the shooting, and there may have been more that were not reported yet, Rector said.
“We’re focusing on the theory that the victim may have surprised someone who was breaking into his car,” Rector said.
Rector said it appears the car burglaries occurred on unlocked vehicles, where the suspect was flipping door handles and entering unlocked cars. Car burglars typically are not armed, Rector said, but if the incidents were connected, this thief was armed. He said there is also a chance the gun was stolen in a car burglary.
“We’ll be treating each of those car break-ins as if they might yield evidence of a murder, which they might,” Rector said. “We’ll be going to great lengths and great effort to process each of those cars and to see if that one car might be the critical piece of evidence we need to solve a crime.”
Anyone with information about this case can contact Sgt. Keith Czeskleba at 739-6795 or the Hoover Police Department at 822-5300.
