Judge releases suspect on bond after fatal shooting of Alabama cheerleader

A man charged with killing an Alabama high school cheerleader and shooting three other people at a late-night bonfire party has been released from jail on bond, prompting anger and fear from the victim’s family. Steven Tyler Whitehead, accused of murdering 18-year-old Kimber Mills, bonded out of the Jefferson County Jail on Thursday after Judge Kandice Pickett set bail at $330,000.

According to WBRC, as a condition of release, Whitehead is required to wear an electronic monitoring device. Mills, a senior at Cleveland High School, was shot in October 2025 during a party in a heavily wooded area known by locals as “The Pit,” near Highway 75 North and Clay-Palmerdale Road in Pinson, Alabama. Authorities said dozens of teenagers were at a bonfire party when violence broke out shortly after midnight. Prosecutors said Whitehead arrived and became involved in a verbal confrontation that escalated into a physical fight before he pulled out a gun and opened fire. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has said multiple shots were fired, striking Mills and three others.

One of the wounded victims, 21-year-old Silas McCay, told the outlet he was hit 10 times, in the leg, hip, rib cage, stomach, finger, pelvis, and thigh, while trying to shield friends, including Mills. “I look at her like a little sister to me,” McCay said from his hospital bed. “I tried everything I could. I wish there was more I could’ve done.”

McCay said the dispute began when he and another man confronted Whitehead after someone at the party claimed Whitehead was trying to talk to Mills. McCay described a fight breaking out and said gunfire erupted shortly afterward. “My ex-girlfriend came up to me at the party and said he was trying to do stuff to this girl named Kimber,” McCay said. “My buddy and I found him, and we started fighting him… and that’s when he pulled his gun out and started shooting.”

Mills was taken to UAB Hospital in Birmingham after being shot in the head and leg, according to Trussville Police Chief Eric Rush. Despite doctors’ efforts, she died from her injuries. Her sister, Ashley Mills, said the family decided to place Kimber on a do-not-resuscitate order due to the extent of her brain injuries and to honor her wish to be an organ donor.

McCay, still recovering from his own injuries, said he visited Mills in the hospital before she died. “She was telling me she loved me by squeezing my hand,” he said. After Whitehead’s release on bond, Ashley Mills posted on Facebook, “Justice for Kimber! That’s all we want. That’s just more anxiety for me knowing he’s out. I’ll stay home.”

WBRC reported that McCay and another man, Hunter McCullouch, 19, were later charged with third-degree assault related to the altercation before the shooting. Authorities have not accused either man of firing a weapon, and McCay was among those shot.