The Birmingham Police Department has charged Ernesto Pablo, 20, with capital murder in the Sept. 28, 2026, shooting death of a 20-year-old man in the parking lot of a McDonald’s on Bessemer Road in Birmingham, Ala. Police also identified him as Ernesto Gama Pablo.

Pablo also faces charges of attempted murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Officers booked him into the Jefferson County Jail without bond. A 17-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the shooting as well, but the charges against him are unclear.

What Police Say Happened

Reports of gunfire at about 9 p.m. on Sept. 28 brought officers to the restaurant, which sits in the 2200 block of Bessemer Road. There, in the parking lot, they found Isaiah Hosanna, a 20-year-old man. Paramedics took him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 9:30 p.m.

Gunfire also struck a second person. Police said the second victim’s injuries were “non-life-threatening.” The shots shattered windows at the fast-food restaurant.

A meeting outside the restaurant that night had been arranged by Hosanna and others, investigators believe. One of the suspects allegedly opened fire when the meeting wrapped up, hitting Hosanna and the second victim, investigators said. The purpose of the meeting was not immediately clear.

Arrests 80 Miles North

The case stayed open more than a week before investigators tracked the two suspects to a neighborhood well outside Jefferson County. Both suspects were taken into custody Tuesday, Oct. 6, at an address in the 2100 block of Westmead Drive Southwest in Decatur, Ala. — roughly 80 miles north of the shooting scene and eight days after the killing.

Pablo, a Fort Payne man, was transported to the Jefferson County Jail and held without bond. The Birmingham Police Department said the 17-year-old was placed into the Birmingham City Jail “and placed on a 48-hour Felony Extension.”

The department has not publicly named the teenager. The 48-hour felony extension is described as a holding window that gives detectives additional time to build a case and formally present charges. Police have not detailed the teen’s alleged conduct, and his role in the shooting, as described by investigators, remains undisclosed.

Questions Police Have Not Answered

Police have not said how the attempted murder and firearm charges relate to the second victim or to any vehicle.

Authorities have released no additional details about any relationship between Hosanna and the people he was there to see. Police have not described how they traced the suspects to the Decatur address, and the department has announced no court dates.