Police in Alabama have said that the man accused of fatally shooting a University of Alabama student, a single father of three and a dog he was looking after knew all his alleged victims. Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, and Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, 31, were found shot dead in Brookwood, Alabama, on Monday, with the dog Alvarez-Duenas had been pet-sitting also killed. The case has drawn attention both for its apparent randomness and for the revelation that the suspect had a prior connection to those he is accused of killing.

The bodies were discovered during a welfare check at the home where Alvarez-Duenas had been caring for a friend's dog. Suspicion fell on 24-year-old De'Kendrick Crawford after he was captured on doorbell camera footage, and he was reportedly already known to police from a previous incident. According to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, Crawford knew both victims and the home's primary resident through a local business where they had all once worked and socialised together. Captain Jack Kennedy said investigators had identified the suspicious figure seen on the cameras, but police have so far found no evidence pointing to a motive, and Crawford has invoked his right not to speak to detectives.