Black Hoes Love To Set Men Up!
By: Tommy “Tj” Sotomayor

A young man gunned down in Birmingham’s Southtown community five days ago died doing what he often did – trying to help someone else.

Emilio Elliott Jr., a 23-year-old affectionately known as “EJ,” was critically wounded by gunfire April 17 and died less than seven hours later. His grieving father, Emilio Elliott Sr., said Wednesday his son had friends from all walks of life and if any of them needed something, he was always there for them.

“Whenever one of his friends was in trouble, he would help,’’ Elliott said. “It’s hard to explain EJ. He was a lot of things to a lot of people. I was so proud of my son. That smile lit up everyone room he went into.”

On that Friday, EJ left his family home to take some money to a female friend who needed help with her rent. He was just going to drop off the money and return home to spend the day with his young niece.

It appears word got around that he would be arriving with cash, Elliott said, and when EJ got out of his car, he was robbed and shot. He was able to shoot at his assailant but lost the battle. Montrel Austin, 26, is charged with capital murder in EJ’s death.

EJ was born in Detroit where he lived until he was 10. His family, including mother Stacy Elliott, moved to Alabama in search of a better, a safer, life for their children and themselves. He was a typical boy. He played little league football for the Central Park Charges and the Midfield-Hueytown Saints.

While living in Fairfield, the family’s home was burglarized and all of EJ’s Christmas presents were stolen. It was then the family moved to Hoover where EJ eventually would go on to play football for one year under Hoover High School Coach Josh Niblett.

“He decided he didn’t want to play football anymore and he put his heart into wrestling,’’ Elliott said.

The family later moved to Pelham where EJ became captain of the wrestling team his sophomore year and remained in that position during his tenure there. He ended up graduating from Hueytown High School and then going on to wrestle at Truett McConnell University in Georgia.

“EJ had no desire to wrestle in college but the coach fell in love with him and convinced him to come,’’ Elliott said.

When funding woes temporarily shut down the wrestling program there, EJ returned to Alabama and joined the U.S. Army Reserves. “No matter how hard life kicked him, he kept going,’’ his father said. “You hear the same stories about him everywhere he went.”

While in the reserves, EJ also took a job at the Mercedes-Benz plant and enrolled in online courses at Walden University.

“He graduated from Hueytown with a 3.85 (gpa). He was smart as a whip,’’ Elliott said. “He was a semester and a half away from his bachelor’s degree with a 3.9.”

EJ also helped with the wrestling team at Pelham High School and had plans to become a teacher and a coach.

He mentored many, his father said, including Pelham double-amputee wrestler Hasaan Hawthorne who won the state title in 2016. “Hasaan has said how EJ took him under his wing and pushed him to be better than he was,’’ Elliott said.

Elliott, who is currently working on his doctorate degree, said he was proud of his son not just for his athletic and academic achievements, but even more so for the man he was becoming. Elliott stressed financial literacy to his children, and EJ took that to heart.

He was working through college to to buy an engagement ring for his longtime girlfriend and was also saving to buy their first home. “He was not going to move her into that house without first solidifying their relationship,’’ Elliott said.

Growing up, EJ always brought friends to the family’s home. “He said he wanted them to see the kind of life he had so they could see something different. Not better, but different,’’ Elliott said.

Though he had never been in trouble with law himself, EJ often extended grace to those who had. “He was everybody’s big brother,’’ Elliott said. “He was the person everyone gravitated to. He helped people with whatever they were going through.”

He said he recently found out that the father of one of his friend’s babies was in jail and that EJ was helping her financially to take care of the child. “He kept money in the house in case someone needed it and he couldn’t get to the bank to get it,’’ he said.

“The stories were the same wherever he went, even in the reserves,’’ Elliott said. “I have never seen a person have that much impact on people he saw only once a month.”

“He had so much forethought. He made intelligent, informed decisions,’’ he said. “He literally put his all into being a great man.”

EJ left his parents’ home about 11:15 a.m. Friday to take the rent money to his friend. “At 11:45 a.m., my son was lying on the ground,’’ he said.

26-year-old charged in deadly shooting in Birmingham’s Southtown community

Montrel Austin is charged with capital murder in the Friday shooting death of 23-year-old Emilio Elliot Jr.

A detective, Elliott said, asked whether the shooting could have stemmed from drugs.

“That bothered me the most,’’ he said. “I never said my son was an angel, but that was infuriating. Everyone in my family works two jobs. How many drug dealers leave home, tell their family where they’re going and say they’ll be right back?”

Elliott said the family texted and talked often throughout each day. When Elliott didn’t immediately return home, they became concerned. Then they saw on the news that a man had been shot in Southtown and quickly put two and two together.

Elliott said he’s thankful for an arrest in the case, even though it won’t bring EJ back.

“I honestly don’t know this young man. I don’t know how he ended up in the situation he is in to take someone else’s life,’’ he said. “My daughter is a social worker and I can tell you he felt his life wasn’t worth anything to take someone else’s.”

“All I can do is pray for him,’’ he said. “He didn’t just take from me, but from all the people EJ touched.”

“I can’t ask ‘Why me?’ because it’s always going to be someone’s son,’’ Elliott said. “But EJ tried so hard to be so good to so many people.”

“The amount of killing in Birmingham is ridiculous,’’ he said. “There will be thousands more of my sons. That’s what we need to fix.”