Suspect In Murder Of Woodlawn High School Student Indicted

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The suspect in the shooting death of Woodlawn High School football star William Edwards has been indicted. A Jefferson County grand jury last week issued the capital murder indictment against 17-year-old Rodrick Hodges.

Hodges was arrested a couple of weeks after the Sept. 1 shooting, which rocked the Woodlawn community. Edwards, the captain of the Woodlawn football team, had a promising future ahead of him, a future cut short when bullets entered Edwards' Woodlawn home on 80th Street North just after midnight Sept. 1 and struck him. Edwards died from the gunshot wounds at approximately 12:30 a.m. Police said at the beginning of the investigation that they did not believe the shooting was random.

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Less than two months after the shooting, thieves broke into the Edwards' home and looted the residence. Vatongula Edwards, William's mother, said she and her family were not currently living in the home in which her son was killed. She returned to the home to find that everything was missing from William's bedroom. "They went straight to William's bedroom,'' she said. Edwards said all of William's belongings - clothing, shoes, cologne and other items - were stolen.

A report by Alabama Media Group said Hodges remains jailed without bond.

Image via Birmingham Police Department