Vestavia Police Officer Murder: New Details Emerge In Court

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Details surrounding the shooting death of Vestavia Hills police officer Andrew Wade Kimbrel were revealed Monday in a Jefferson County courtroom. Kimbrel was shot and killed in Gardendale May 3, and his wife, Stephanie Nicole Keller, is charged with his murder.

Gardendale police Det. Kyle Pannell was the lone witness in the hour-long hearing Monday, chronicling what the suspect, as well as Kimbrel’s daughter, told police about what happened that night in their home.

The shooting happened just before 11 p.m. that Thursdayat Kimbrel’s home at Woodbrook Apartments. Kimbrel’s daughter and Keller’s son – both young teens – were home at the time and in their own bedrooms. Police arrived on the scene after Keller called 911, and they found the critically wounded Kimbrel in the corner of the master bedroom closet.

Pannell testified that the couple were arguingover Keller joining a gym and hiring a personal trainer without telling him, according to an Alabama Media Group report.

Keller’s son told police he was asleep the entire time and did not hear or see anything. The victim’s daughter, however, told detectives that the couple fought constantly but said that night was more severe than normal. Kimbrel’s daughter was so frightened, Pannell testified, that she locked her bedroom door, and used Snapchat to reach out to her grandfather to come get her.

At some point, she told investigators, she heard her father say something similar to, "If you think I’m such a bad person, why don’t you just shoot me?" She said Keller replied, "Give me your gun."

The daughter said she next heard gunfire and then heard Keller say, "Oh my God, Andy, wake up."

According to the autopsy, Pannell testified, Kimbrel was shot close to the top of his head in a downward trajectory. Kimbrel was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital in the predawn hours of May 3.

The case will now go to a grand jury.