19-year-old Alabama teen takes his new AR-15 rifle to his friend’s birthday. The night ends with a murder: ‘If you’re gonna do it, do it’

Authorities in Alabama have charged a 19-year-old with murder after he allegedly shot and killed a friend at a birthday gathering. Tucker Braxton Woods is accused of fatally shooting Gabriel Rogers, 21, on the evening of October 17 in Grand Bay, a community about 25 miles southwest of Mobile. The shooting occurred around 8:15 p.m. at a trailer home where Rogers was marking his 21st birthday.

Woods had arrived with a new AR-15 rifle, and an argument developed when he pressed to fire the weapon on the property, according to court testimony. The dispute involved Rogers’s girlfriend, Savannah Taylor. Investigator Michael Pozobyt of the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office described the confrontation in testimony covered by WALA.

Rogers intervened and told Woods not to speak disrespectfully to Taylor. At that point, Woods allegedly aimed the rifle at him. Rogers responded by removing his shirt and drawing a pocket knife while saying, “If you’re gonna do it, do it.” Woods is accused of then shooting Rogers several times and leaving the area. Rogers was discovered with a wound to the back of the head, two wounds to the chest, and one to an index finger; he was declared dead at the scene.

Investigators and attorneys outline drinking, recovery of evidence, and competing accounts

People at the party had finished two bottles of Crown Royal whiskey before the shooting took place, Pozobyt testified. Woods was located later in a wooded section close by. Investigators recovered eight spent .223-caliber rifle casings. Woods’s brother allegedly directed deputies to the rifle, which was found inside a drainage culvert. Arguments involving a girlfriend have escalated this way before, as in a relationship dispute that ended in gunfire. 

District Judge Deborah McGowin determined there was probable cause and sent the case forward to a grand jury. Woods entered a not-guilty plea, WKRG reported. He remains in custody without bond at the Mobile Metro Jail. At the time of the shooting, he was free on bond from an earlier DUI case.

District Attorney Keith Blackwood described the outcome as absolutely heartbreaking. He noted that the two men, by all accounts, were friends who had spent the day together. Blackwood said the confrontation escalated very, very quickly and that some really bad decisions were made. In a statement to the Daily Mail, he added that Rogers should have had a future beyond his 21st birthday, that the family is grieving, and that a 19-year-old now faces a murder charge. He also stated that being in an argument or being young does not excuse taking someone’s life.

Defense lawyer Jason Darley said he had been told the pair had known each other probably since fifth grade. He indicated that identity is not in dispute and that the focus will be on intent. Darley said drinking had begun around 9 in the morning and that most of those present were very intoxicated.

He observed that alcohol affects judgment and that questions of self-defense, including what a reasonable person would view as a threat of force, will be relevant. He plans to request youthful offender status for Woods.  

Blackwood rejected the defense’s emphasis on alcohol, stating that under Alabama law intoxication is not a defense to criminal conduct unless it reaches the level of insanity. A public obituary said Rogers’s loving nature brought comfort to others and that his quiet kindness made the world around him a little brighter.

It noted he was expecting a baby girl with Taylor and that he was so happy to become a daddy and spoke of her with pride, love, and excitement, looking forward to the life they would share. A GoFundMe set up by Taylor indicated Rogers had been helping support her daughter from a previous relationship. Rogers had worked for Premier Vinyl Siding and was a graduate of Theodore High School.