Trussville man charged with manslaughter after shooting

Police in Trussville, Alabama, have arrested Jeffrey Scott Towers, 54, and charged him with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of his son’s 22-year-old girlfriend, Whitney Harlow Robeson, who died after being shot at a home on Deer Trail on March 7.

Trussville police said officers responded at about 9:30 p.m. to a report of a person suffering from a gunshot wound at Towers’ residence, roughly 15 miles northeast of Birmingham. When officers arrived, they found Robeson with a gunshot injury and transported her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead more than an hour later.

Authorities said an extensive investigation followed and resulted in detectives obtaining an arrest warrant for Towers. Trussville police announced the arrest this week. Prosecutors allege Towers recklessly caused Robeson’s death by shooting her with a firearm. Towers was booked into the Jefferson County jail with bond set at $30,000 and later posted bail and was released.

The case initially involved competing characterizations of how Robeson died. Reports at the time indicated that the Jefferson County coroner’s office had ruled the death accidental, and detailed information about what happened...