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Three people have been indicted on murder charges in unrelated incidents, including a Birmingham activist who was initially charged with a lesser crime.

A Jefferson County grand jury on March 6 issued the murder indictments against Mercutio Southall, Micayla Sloan and Terrence Watkins, according to court records made public Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Southall, one of the initial leaders in the citys Black Lives Matter movement, is indicted on intentional murder in the 2019 slaying of 54-year-old Arthur Douglas Hudson. He was originally charged with manslaughter.

The shooting happened about 10:30 p.m. in June 2019 Hudsons home in the 6600 block of First Avenue South. East Precinct officers were just finishing up a nearby traffic stop when a red Ford F-150 flew past them driving erratically and then came to a screeching halt. The driver - later identified as Southall - jumped out of the truck and ran behind a home.

One of the officers began to follow him, and saw a woman sitting in the pickup truck with her head in her hands. Just then, multiple shots rang out behind the home. Police heard a man - later identified as Hudson - yell that he had been shot and found him climbing over a fence to get away from the shooter. Officers tried to tend to his injuries - two gunshot wounds - but he was pronounced dead on the scene.

Southall - with a gun holstered on his side - was taken into custody at the scene. Southalls sister was taken by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service to UAB Hospital for treatment for lacerations. It wasnt immediately clear how she was injured. Southall remains on bond.

Sloan, a 23-year-old Walker County woman, has been indicted on a felony murder charge in connection with the 2018 deadly shooting of a young Birmingham man. She is charged with murder in the Oct. 11, 2018 killing of 24-year-old Skyler Lewis.

West Precinct officers were dispatched just before 3:30 a.m. that day to a home at 1839 18th Street in Ensley. Once on the scene, police found Lewis lying unresponsive inside the home. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service medics pronounced him dead on the scene.

A second male victim was also found wounded inside the house. He was taken to UAB Hospital with critical injuries. Additional officers then responded to the 1500 block of Bessemer Road where a woman was founded with a gunshot wound. Authorities quickly determined she had been injured in the 18th Street shooting.

The two-count indictment against Sloan states she did commit or attempt to commit a felony clearly dangerous to human life, burglary, and in the course of that crime she, or another participant, caused the death of Lewis by shooting him with a pistol.

Court records show Sloan had previously written a letter to the judge asking she be released so that she could take care of her children and go back to work, but she remains in the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $60,000.

Watkins, 37, is charged in the Sept. 23 shooting death of Tiyesha Carson, also 37.

Birmingham police and firefighters responded at 4:20 a.m. that Monday after getting a ShotSpotter call to the 1300 block of Avenue V. Once on the scene. They found Carson suffering from a gunshot wound.

The woman was found in the rear of a residence, but she did not live there. Authorities said it appears she went to the home searching for help after she was shot.

Carson was taken to UAB Hospitals Trauma Center, where she was pronounced dead at 5:45 a.m.

Authorities have not said what led to the deadly shooting. Watkins is out of jail on $100,000 bond.

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3 indicted on murder charges in unrelated Birmingham slayings - AL.com