Staff Report –

One of the suspects in the murder of Red Cross volunteer Brian Shaw of Alabama has been released on bail bond, according to a spokesman at the St. Clair County Jail in Asheville.

Andray LaQuarn Pope Jr., 20, of Birmingham, was apprehended and charged with theft of property first and possession of a forged instrument second. He turned himself in on those charges and bonded out of jail, but additional warrants for charges of murder were issued later. Apparently he has agreed to cooperate in the investigation.

The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office had earlier arrested another Birmingham man in connection with the death of Shaw, 67, who owned a home in Odenville.

Charles Grimmett III, 34, was first charged in connection with the death of Shaw, after being caught fleeing the scene on foot. Pope apparently fled the scene in the get away car after an armed neighbor caught them in the act of stealing Shaw’s prized Chevrolet Camaro, which he had named “Babe.”

According to jail records, Grimmett was charged with murder, check forgery and theft from a banking institution. He is being held at the St. Clair County Courthouse without bond.

St. Clair County Coroner Dennis Russell said Shaw was pronounced dead at his home on Ladonna Drive at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday June 1 from apparent gunshot wounds.

The Sheriff’s Office said in a previous news release that deputies were dispatched to Ladonna Drive in Odenville on Tuesday night to investigate a deceased man with gunshot wounds. Russell said the call came into central dispatch around 7:50 p.m.

The release said deputies immediately secured the scene, and an investigation was conducted by the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from the Jacksonville State University Applied Forensic Science Unit and the Odenville Police Department.

Russell said Shaw has been sent to the Alabama Department of Forensics lab in Huntsville for an autopsy.

Some reporting on this story has been done by the St. Clair County Times, a local newspaper now owned by The Anniston Star chain.

According to a news feature on Shaw that appeared in The Birmingham News, the website Al dot com and MSN News:

“Brian Shaw was a man of peace.”

I have known Brian Shaw for many years, but we were not close friends. I had often run into him at various musical events in Birmingham, especially on Southside, but also at the City Stages music festival which is now defunct. He was always a chipper, upbeat fellow with sparkling eyes and a keen wit.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, he used to host Fourth of July parties at his house on Smith Lake, and I would attend in one of my camper vans, and always bring a basket of Sand Mountain tomatoes, various greens and good beer.

According to friends who knew him better, shaw had become a dedicated volunteer with the American Red Cross after his retirement in the computer industry, logging more than 8,000 volunteer hours in his three years with the agency.

They say he had traveled all over the country trying to visit every state, and had converted to Buddhism.

According to friends and family, Shaw was in the three-bay, industrial-style garage behind his home working on one of his cars when the two men tried to steal his 2002 red Camaro. He loved to buy and sell cars, friends say, and take them apart and rebuild them.

It was shortly before 8 p.m. when his neighbors heard what sounded like gunfire, according to previous reports.

“They heard, ‘pop pop,’ and his wife said, ‘that sounded like gunfire,’’’ said his sister, Carole Tatum. “He was my baby brother. It’s hard.” said. “He came out of his house and saw Brian laying there and told his wife to call 911. He grabbed his shotgun and went back outside.”

“Brian was a pacifist. He didn’t believe in violence, so this is hard to comprehend,’’ she said.

Court records show Grimmett pleaded guilty in 2017 to shooting another man with a shotgun. He received a 10-year suspended sentence.

It did not appear Shaw knew the suspects.

Shaw was born in Canada but had a dual citizenship.

He lost his mother at a young age, and he and his siblings moved to Florida with their father. Eventually, the family ended up in the Birmingham area, where Shaw graduated from Homewood High School and went on to study computers at a trade school.

He married his high school sweetheart, Abbey Shaw, a newspaper columnist. But she died of cancer just two years after their son, Artie, was born. Shaw moved to Vestavia Hills, and later Artie, too, became sick.

He was first diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, got well, and then later developed lung cancer and died. An award was launched in his name – the Artie Shaw Award – at Vestavia’s Pizitz Middle School.

“Brian was devastated,’’ said best friend, Kay Channell. “He sold his house and went on a long trip.”

Eventually, Shaw became engaged to his second wife, Mary Grace McCord, a Birmingham area public relations specialist. It was during the engagement that McCord developed Hodgkin lymphoma, so they married sooner than expected and Shaw cared for her until she died in 2015.

“This is the life of Brian,’’ Channell said.

Following McCord’s death, Shaw moved into an apartment attached to the home of close friends Sallie Downs and her husband. By then retired, he became a handyman of sorts, traveling all over the country to help with a deck, or a kitchen, or a whole house.

He bought a van and outfitted it with a bed and electricity. Friends called it the “Hippy Van.”

“He had his own driveway and garage in addition to his apartment, so he worked on his cars and designed and built-out his ‘Hippy Van,’’’ Downs said. “I think in addition to space, we provided a home to come home to, and a family to come home to as well. What a gift it was for us.”

He often spent time with his Canadian friends who wintered in Florida, and he regularly housesat for friends in New Mexico. He visited about 47 states, and often posted pictures of his travels. “His goal was to get a picture by the ‘Welcome to North Dakota’ sign,’’ Channell said.

“He had friends everywhere, and he’d just go visit them and he’d be gone two or three weeks,’’ Tatum said. “He was always on the go. He had a zest for life.”

Eventually, he bought his St. Clair County home.

“He had a lot of tragedy in his life beginning with his mom dying when he was young, but that’s just who Brian was,’’ Channell said. “He’s going to pick it up and move on down the road. He was the very best man you could meet.”

Three years ago, Shaw began his Red Cross volunteer work and eventually became a Disaster Action Team Duty Officer/Supervisor.

“Brian treated everyone with kindness and was a gentle soul,’’ said Debbie Looney, Disaster Program Manager.

“He treated all people with compassion, empathy, dignity and respect. This was especially important when some were having the worst day of their lives as a result of a disaster such as a fire, tornado or flood.”

Shaw posted about his volunteer work on Facebook, noting his three-year anniversary with the agency.

“I have been at so many disasters that I cannot begin to remember all the details but I will always remember the hugs, the thank you’s and looks on my clients faces when they see someone is there to help them. The reward I get is the satisfaction of knowing I have alleviated someone’s suffering for a brief moment and given them hope.”

Friend Jennifer Greer described Shaw as cheerful, compassionate and funny, “understanding that his everyday demeanor was part of the gift he gave others.”

When Shaw had his “Hippy Van,” it bore a bumper sticker that read, “Bark less, wag more.”

“Of all the lessons he taught me,’’ Greer said, “that was probably the one I needed to hear the most.”

Though his death is tragic, friends say his legacy will be lasting.

“What he brought to my life was love, fun, generosity, faith and complete and total trust of another human being. Because he was the whole package in terms of ‘friend,’ I consider myself rich,’’ Downs said. “I will say goodbye to Brian because I have to, and I’ll try to remember how he taught me to live after loss. That is the greatest tribute I can pay him. But I don’t want to.”

“I hear myself saying, ‘but I don’t want to accept gracefully the loss of my precious friend.’ But never did I ever hear Brian protest his losses,’’ she said. “He just kept on living, one day at a time, one project at a time, and he kept loving and helping others.

“Maybe that was his secret, ya think?” Downs said. “Gratitude for what we have, not bitterness for what we have lost. Brian was a joy, and I will forever think of the twinkle in his eye as I remember him.”