From The Tribune staff reports
BIRMINGHAM — A Jefferson County inmate has now been charged with the murder of a toddler.
Clearence Speed Jr.
Clearance Speed Jr., 24, already charged with the murder of 56-year-old Richard Spence on Friday, January 14, 2022, has faces new charges in the death of 2-year-old Major Turner on February 4, 2021.
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Turner was killed February 4, 2021 in the Kimbrough Homes Housing Community. Birmingham Police announced Speed’s charges on the one-year anniversary of the toddler’s death.
The day Turner was killed, officers responded to a call of a child shot, locating the boy “lying on the living room floor suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the upper extremities.”
“Birmingham Fire and Rescue responded to the scene and transported the child to Children’s Hospital of Alabama with life-threatening injuries,” Sergeant Rod Mauldin said at the time. “Officers later discovered the mother of the child was wounded. She was transported to UAB Hospital for treatment and released.”
Turner succumbed to his injuries at Children’s Hospital of Alabama later that evening.
“Birmingham Police detectives presented information on the case to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office,” Mauldin said. “After an assessment of the information, detectives obtained a warrant for felony murder ($1.5 million bond).”
Speed remains in the Jefferson County Jail with no bond issued in the killing of Spence.
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The story will be updated when more information is available.
