Audrey Burrell was sitting on the front steps of her Jones Valley home when she heard arguing and cussing.

Audrey was waiting for a friend to return home with nails so they could continue with the renovation of her 82-year-old mother’s front porch at the family’s home on Balsam Avenue in southwest Birmingham.

Without warning, the unthinkable happened.

Shots rang out and, when they ended, Audrey’s elderly mother, Aldorthia Burrell, was near death in a pool of blood on the floor of her enclosed porch.

“That was my mama,” Audrey said.

“If she had died of natural causes, I could accept that,” Audrey said. “The senseless killing, I can’t accept that.”

Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett held a press conference Thursday morning to address Aldorthia’s murder.

“Birmingham, we are better

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