Arguably the greatest regular-season college football game was marred with the shooting death of a mother of three in Hoover, Ala.
AL.com reported Monday that 28-year-old Adrian Laroze Briskey has been charged with murder of 36-year-old Michelle Shepherd.
The shooting occurred at an apartment complex in Hoover at about 7 p.m. Sheppard was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two different accounts have surfaced as to what took place leading up to the shooting, AL.com reported. Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said Shepherd and Briskey, both Alabama Crimson Tide fans, got into an argument after the game. Archrival Auburn beat the Tide 36-34 on a failed field-goal return on the last play of regulation in the Iron Bowl.
The argument started inside an apartment and spilled over into the complex's parking lot. Derzis said the women did not know each other prior to the shooting. It was unclear whose apartment the women were in when the argument took place and why the two women unfamiliar with each other were in the same room.
According to the report, Briskey took out a small caliber handgun and shot Shepherd; police did not know what started the fight.
Sheppard's sister, Neketa Shepherd, gave a different account of the events that led to the shooting. After the game, she said, she and Michelle Shepherd began joking around about the Miami Heat, but the accused thought they were laughing about the Crimson Tide.
The report said Neketa Shepherd believed that Briskey got mad because the sisters weren't upset enough about Alabaman's 24-17 loss to Auburn.
Neketa Shepherd said Briskey, who was drunk and belligerent, was escorted outside by her friends who were going to take home.
Neketa Shepherd said she and Michelle decided to go back to their home in Birmingham. Neketa said the sisters don't drink.
They got in their car but were blocked by a group, including Briskey, that was standing in the parking lot. Neketa Shepherd said she and her sister got out of the car and asked them to move. Neketa said she was talking when she heard five shots.
"She was like 10 feet away. My sister never touched her, and she never touched my sister,'' she said. "They never had words."
Michelle Shepherd, 36, was a mother of three and case worker for at risk youth and young parents.
Derzis said he stands by the police account of what happened.
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