CREOLA, Ala. (WKRG) — Police suspect a murder-for-hire plot after two men were shot in an Alabama home.
On Sunday night at their home in Creola, Tracy Reeves went to her husband and told him there was an intruder in the house, which led to gunfire.
What she didn’t tell him was the person inside was her longtime boyfriend, Michael Amacker, who had been living in the home without the husband’s knowledge for more than a day, according to Captain Paul Burch, with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.
”She had been allowing him to stay within the home for a couple of days, providing him food,” Burch said. “There were bottles of urine within the room which indicated he had been in there for a little while.”
Frank Reeves and Amacker exchanged gunfire. Frank Reeves suffered a gunshot to the chest, and Amacker was shot in the arm and leg. Both were taken to a hospital, where Amacker remained Tuesday.
Amacker faces several charges, including attempted murder, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number. Because Amacker is also a convicted felon, federal charges are forthcoming.
Drugs played a role in the incident. Deputies noted Tracy Reeves was intoxicated at the time of the shooting and was too incoherent to be interviewed.
Deputies said Amacker is well known in the methamphetamine community and has multiple past charges of manufacturing and possessing a controlled substance.
Burch and investigators say the shooting could have been part of a murder-for-hire situation, a possible explanation for why Tracy Reeves told her husband there was an intruder.
“When someone’s using drugs, particularly meth, you really can’t apply rationale — normal rationale — to their thought process,” Burch said, “Another thing with meth, people that are on meth not only do they have paranoia, they can’t keep their mouth shut. So if there was some kind of diabolical plan, it is very possible Amacker has told some other people prior to or certainly not after the fact.”