A man accused of fatally shooting a “bubbly” Alabama cheerleader at a bonfire party last year is seeking to have his charges dropped, arguing his actions were justified as self-defense under state law.
Steven Tyler Whitehead, 28, remains out on bond with pending murder and attempted murder charges over the 2025 killing of 18-year-old Kimber Mills while awaiting a pre-trial immunity hearing — which was just pushed back to December 7, according to the Daily Mail.
The shooting occurred on October 19, just outside of Birmingham at a location dubbed “The Pit,” where local youth hang out.
Whitehead, 28, showed up at the party just after midnight and allegedly opened fire into a large crowd of 40 to 50 people following a verbal spat, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Mills, a senior at Cleveland High School who planned to attend the University of Alabama, was one of four people shot at the bonfire.
While the other three attendees survived, the cheerleader was shot in the head and later died from her injuries.
Silas McCay, then 21, who was allegedly blasted 10 times by the gunman, recalled the moments leading up to the violence.
“My ex-girlfriend came up to me at the party and said [Whitehead] was trying to do stuff to this girl named Kimber,” McCay told WRBC, adding that Whitehead was a stranger to all of them.
“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 claims he fired his gun in self-defense.
But his self-defense claim hinges on the upcoming pre-trial immunity hearing in December, in which a judge will determine whether his use of deadly force was legally justified under Alabama law.
While charges against Whitehead are still pending, the hearing could provide a path to total immunity.
If the judge rules in his favor, the charges will be thrown out entirely and he cannot be tried, according to local news station ABC 33/40.
Mills’s family would also be unable to sue him.
The teen was described by loved ones as a “bubbly” cheerleader at Cleveland High School who dreamed of becoming a nurse before she was caught in the crossfire.
She was rushed to the hospital and taken off life support days later, with her organs donated.
“She was just very bubbly,” Ashley Mills said of her sister, WVTM13 reported.
“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.”
