Blaine Justice Lovell of Ohatchee walked into McKinley Mack Young's home on the 2900 block of Newborn Street and shot him in the face, said Anniston police Capt. Richard Smith.
Lovell was in Monroe County, Miss., Monday. The killing marks the first murder of the year for Calhoun County.
On Monday afternoon, family members sat in the large, tree-enclosed yard, remembering a man who they said was always willing to help any one.
"He was the air that I breathed," said Eve Bragg, Young's wife.
Police said Lovell came into the home about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, after the two men had argued.
The family spoke at the home Monday, sitting on a collection of chairs or leaning on one of a half-dozen of cars. The home is south of Alabama 202 near Coldwater Mountain.
Family and friends cycled through the area Monday morning to visit with the family.
Eve Bragg's sister, Rose Elrod, drove about six hours from Russell Springs, Ky., to be with her sister. She said Young was a brother to her, not just her sister's husband.
She remembered him as always willing to help someone, and that she'd never heard him raise his voice at anyone.
Adam Bragg is Young's brother-in-law. He said Young was a handyman, always willing to help others work on their cars.
"He was probably trying to give that guy an ice cream cone when he shot him," he said. That's the type of person Young was, Bragg said.
Eve Bragg said she was still in a sort of shock. She was the only person to not start crying about the killing since the single gunshot Thursday afternoon, she said.
But they expect to collect Young's personal items today, and she doesn't think she'll be able to hold together.
The family said that Young, 47, didn't argue with anyone.
The argument was between two other men, said his wife, Eve Bragg. Young's involvement was limited to telling the two men to take it outside, she said.
She said Lovell returned later, looking for the man he was arguing with. When he didn't find his target, he pushed Eve Bragg down.
Young told Lovell to leave, the family said, but police and the family said he held the gun only a foot from Young's face and pulled the trigger. Police said Young died at the scene.
Lovell and three other men fled the state, driving to a hotel in Monroe County, Miss., police said.
Smith said they were apprehended by the U.S. Marshals.
A message left at the Monroe County, Miss., Sheriff's Office was not returned by press time Monday.
One man who police said was involved, Drew William Thrower, 19, of the 1100 block of Ingram Street in Oxford, returned to the area and was arrested, Smith said. He was charged with first-degree hindering prosecution, a class C felony. It carries a one- to 10-year prison sentence.
Calhoun County Chief Deputy Matthew Wade said Lovell should be extradited to the county within the next several days.
With Young's death five months into the year, Calhoun County marks its first murder of 2009. The previous year was the deadliest in recent memory, with 20 people killed in the county.
By this time in 2008, five people had been murdered.
