Bay Minette man charged in fatal shooting

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CROSSROADS, Alabama — In what is believed to be the first homicide of 2021 in Baldwin County, a Bay Minette man is being charged with murder after another man died of gunshot wounds at a local hospital late Monday.

According to jail records, 30-year-old Christopher Lee Atchison of Bay Minette was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Facility at 9:27 p.m. on Monday where he is currently being held without bond.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department released a statement around 9:20 p.m. on Monday that a shooting had occurred around 4 p.m. that afternoon in the area of Whippoorwill Lane and Alabama 225 in the Crossroads Community near Bay Minette.

Deputies arrived on the scene to find a man, later identified as 30-year-old Chase Childress of Bay Minette, had been shot.

“Deputies provided life saving measures until medical units arrived,” according to the release. Childress was transported to the Malbis ER and then to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola where he was initially listed in critical condition.

Atchison was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Facility on charges of first-degree assault and attempted murder.

At around 11 p.m. on Monday, the Sheriff’s Office released a statement that Childress had died of his injuries and the charges were upgraded to murder.

In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Capt. Clint Cadenhead with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Command said the two men had a “long history.”

“From what we’ve been able to learn, it sounds like they were friends at one time, but for whatever reason that went south,” Cadenhead said.

At one time the two were neighbors, Cadenhead said. Atchison moved away but still owned property in the Crossroads community.

Investigators believe that Atchison had come to check on his property when a dispute arose between the two, resulting in Childress being shot. The shooting occurred in the parking lot of a restaurant that had been closed for some time.

“We believe this was just a brutal argument that escalated,” Cadenhead said. Investigators believe Childress was unarmed at the time of the shooting and that a single shot was fired at fairly close range.

Investigators will continue to work the case and present their findings to the Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office, according to the release.