Bessemer 18-year-old charged with murder in shooting death of Birmingham teenager

An 18-year-old has been charged with the shooting death of another teenager in Birmingham in May.

Cameron Jayveon Scales of Bessemer is charged with murder in the May 15 killing of 18-year-old Ja'Quavius ​​James “Quay” Weston, Birmingham police said Wednesday.

Scales was taken into custody Wednesday in the 1000 block of Huckleberry Lane in Hoover by the Birmingham Police Department's Special Enforcement Division and Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies. He was subsequently booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 3:54 p.m. and remains held without bail.

West Precinct officers responded to the Ensley Highlands neighborhood at 11:23 p.m. Wednesday after dispatchers in the area received two Shot Spotter alerts, one reporting 12 shots fired and the other reporting six shots fired.

The location was in the 2400 block of Avenue W.

Sergeant. LaQuitta Wade said when officers arrived they encountered two people who lived in that area.

They told police they had just arrived home and didn't see anything unusual or hear any gunshots.

However, they reported that another family member called them and said shots had been fired outside the home.

Wade said officers searched the area but found no homes or cars that appeared to have been damaged by bullets. They saw nothing unusual and left.

Police were called back to the home at 11:53 p.m.

Wade said after officers left the first time, the family continued to investigate the area and found Weston about 15 feet in a wooded area near their home.

Weston was unresponsive on the ground and was pronounced dead at 12:07 a.m. by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Services

Wade said investigators learned that a family member heard the victim arguing with someone on the phone. Shortly afterwards, shots were fired and she didn't see the victim again.

A motive was not revealed.