Huntsville Police: Man offers another a ride to the Northwood Housing Projects, turns deadly

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) - Huntsville Police say a man offered to do a good deed for another, and it turned into a situation that left one of them dead.

Officers say early Sunday morning they responded to a call from a robbery victim, saying a man had been shot.

Police say the victim says he gave a man he didn't know a ride from the Chevron Gas Station on University Drive to Northwood Housing Projects, which is a short distance away.

Huntsville Police say victim had stopped the car and the man sprayed him in the face with mace. The victim told police he feared for his safety so he pulled out a gun and shot the man once.

Police say the man jumped out of the car and ran down the road. That's when police say the victim drove away and called the police.

Officers responded and found the man dead in the front yard of the home on Turf Avenue. "All I saw was a bunch of lights through my window and when I came outside it was crazy," neighbor James Burgess says, "There was police everywhere, there was a body laying down on the ground. I was really just in shock. I didn't hear any gunshots or anything, the body wasn't moving."

Burgess says police were on the scene for hours Sunday morning."They started taping off everything, searching on the ground, it was just crazy."

He has lived at the home across the street from the scene for about four years, and says he has strict rules for his kids when they're outside. "I mean, it's nothing new," Burgess says, "There's always shootings, always robberies"

WHNT News 19 spoke with someone who lives at the home who didn't want to comment on this story. That person did tell us he knows the victim, but didn't know why he would come to his home.

Burgess says violence like this has to end. "This is just about time people stop, pay attention, get a job, quit trying to rob folks," Burgess says, "People are starting to defend themselves a lot lately, and it's just, it's time for a change."

The names of the victim and the man are not being released. Huntsville Police are still investigating, and say they can't release any more information. It is not clear if there will be any charges in this case.

We'll keep this story updated when new details emerge.

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