Mississippi police arrest suspect wanted for the murder of man outside Alabama hotel

Published 10:29 am Wednesday, September 1, 2021

A suspect wanted for the murder of a man outside a Birmingham hotel has been arrested in Mississippi.

Christopher Garcia Spencer, 35, of Birmingham was arrested Friday, Aug. 27, in Philadelphia by the Philadelphia Police Department.

Spencer is charged with murder in the Aug. 17 slaying of 39-year-old Hernado Retion McJunkins.

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McJunkins was killed two weeks ago today near the King’s Inn on Third Avenue North in Birmingham.

According to authorities, police found McJunkins unresponsive on the sidewalk after a witness told the hotel clerk that shots had been fired and someone had been hit. McJunkins was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:56 a.m.

Another suspect in the case, Ira Dexter Eaton Jr., 29, was arrested the day after the shooting and remains held without bond.

According to Al.com,  Spencer was arrested in 2017 on a robbery charge but that case was dismissed. He was arrested earlier this year on a domestic violence/strangulation charge and prosecutors are now seeking to revoke his bond in that case because of the new murder charge.