A Birmingham man is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of another in the parking lot of CVS in Homewood.
Brennon Jabree Dinatale is charged in the Oct. 29 slaying of 39-year-old Eric Steven Kaczmarek. Investigators said the evidence suggest the killing was drug related.
Homewood police Sgt. John Carr said the warrant against Dinatale was obtained Nov. 3. Since then, the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Task Force has been searching for the suspect.
Dinatale was taken into custody without incident Monday in the 2900 block of Clairmont Avenue in Birmingham. He was taken to the Homewood City Jail and will be transferred to the Jefferson County Jail Tuesday where he will be held without bond.
Court records show Dinatale has a history of drug-related arrests. He is currently awaiting trial on trafficking heroin charges, and previously pleaded guilty to felony drug possession.
The victim also had prior arrests on drug and burglary charges.
A male was critically wounded in a shooting in the parking lot of the CVS at the corner of West Valley Avenue and Green Springs Highway in Homewood. (Carol Robinson)
The gunfire erupted at 5:31 p.m. that Saturday at the store on the corner of West Valley Avenue and Green Springs Highway.
Kaczmarek was taken to UAB Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m.
A witness, who asked that her name not be used, said she had just pulled up to the store after dropping her daughter off at the airport when she heard a loud noise that she thought was a car backfiring.
She looked at the car next to her, and saw the victim exit a vehicle. That car then took off.
Only one shot was fired, she said. “It was loud,’’ she said.
Kaczmarek, she said, was holding his neck area as he approached the store asking for help. He then collapsed to the ground.
The woman told store workers to call 911, which they did. Store employees then applied pressure to the man’s wound while they waited for medics to arrive.
“It was scary,’’ she said. “I was crying. I felt so helpless.”
She said it appeared the shooting happened inside the car in which the victim was a passenger. The car had backed into the parking space.
“It just shocked me more than anything,’’ she said.
