Steven Tyler Whitehead is seeking dismissal of murder charges through an Alabama self-defense immunity hearing now set for December 7.
Whitehead, 28, faces murder and attempted murder charges in the October 19 shooting death of Kimber Mills, 18, a Cleveland High School senior who had planned to attend the University of Alabama. The gunfire erupted at “The Pit,” a gathering spot just outside Birmingham where local youth congregate, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The defendant arrived at the bonfire party shortly after midnight and allegedly opened fire into a crowd of 40 to 50 people following a verbal dispute. Mills was one of four people struck by bullets. The other three survived their injuries, but the cheerleader suffered a gunshot to the head and died after being taken off life support days later. Her organs were donated.
Silas McCay, then 21, was allegedly shot 10 times by Whitehead and recounted the confrontation to WRBC. McCay said his ex-girlfriend approached him at the party and told him Whitehead was “trying to do stuff to this girl named Kimber,” noting that Whitehead was a stranger to everyone there.
“My buddy and I found him, and we started fighting him. I grabbed him and put him over my shoulder and had him on the ground. My buddy pulled me off him, and that’s when he pulled his gun out and started shooting. I tried everything I could,” McCay said.
Whitehead maintains he fired in self-defense. His legal team is pursuing a pre-trial immunity hearing under Alabama law, where a judge will evaluate whether his use of deadly force was legally justified. If the judge rules in his favor, the charges would be dismissed entirely and he could not be tried. The family of Mills would also be barred from pursuing civil litigation against him.
The hearing was originally scheduled earlier but has been pushed back to December 7. Whitehead remains out on bond pending the proceeding.
Mills was remembered by those close to her as a vibrant presence with aspirations of becoming a nurse. Her sister, Ashley Mills, spoke about her personality to WVTM13.
“She was just very bubbly,” Ashley Mills said. “She loved everyone. She could make friends anywhere she went, but she also had that little fiery side where she could get you. I guess I would just say that she had a spunk in her step. She just loved everything. She was just the sweetest.”
The shooting occurred when Whitehead allegedly fired into the assembled crowd at the rural gathering spot. Law enforcement has not publicly detailed what verbal exchange preceded the violence or whether Whitehead sustained injuries during the physical altercation with McCay and his friend.
The case has drawn attention to Alabama’s stand-your-ground-style immunity provisions, which allow defendants to seek complete legal protection before trial if they can demonstrate justified use of force. The December hearing will determine whether Whitehead’s claim meets that threshold.
Mills’s death has left her family navigating both grief and the procedural complexities of a legal mechanism that could foreclose any criminal accountability. The bonfire where she was killed had drawn dozens of young people to the unincorporated area outside Birmingham on a Saturday night.
Whitehead’s immunity hearing is scheduled for December 7 in Jefferson County.
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