Tallassee police investigating first homicide of 2012 | Crime

TALLASSEE, AL (WSFA) -  Family members at a one-story home on Griffith Lane in north Tallassee were too distraught to say anything publicly after a family fight turned deadly, the city's first homicide of 2012.

 "We've never get any calls in that part of town," said Tallassee Police Chief Jimmy Rodgers. 

Rodgers says it started when 21-year-old Christian Kyle Adkins got a call from his mother-in-law to come help her. Rodgers says she was being abused by her husband, Adkins' father-in-law. 

Chief Rodgers says it's still not clear what the couple were arguing about. 

"When he (Adkins) got there the two got into a physical confrontation and the father-in-law brandished a weapon and shot Adkins once in the chest area," said Chief Rodgers. 

Adkins died on the scene. Police arrested 57-year old Michael Foster and charged Foster with murder. 

"There were 6 people in the house at the time, 2 children and 4 adults," Rodgers said. 

Michael Foster spent more than 20 years as a driver for the Tallassee Senior Citizens Center, delivering meals to the homebound. In addition to this job Foster also worked as a school-crossing guard. 

Mike Woodall heads up the center and is stunned to hear the latest development on Foster. Woodall remembers a man with a sterling record at the center. 

"He always came to work on time, delivered the meals and got back in his car and went home. The next day he'd come work and was a solid as a rock when it came to his job," said Woodall. 

Tallassee homicide investigators say they're getting two different versions of the truth. Foster has not confessed and told police it was self-defense. 

"That will be something the courts will have to delve into," said Chief Rodgers. 

Michael Foster remains in the Elmore County jail and is expected to have his first court appearance Monday morning. City records show Tallassee averages one homicide every two years. 

For now a quiet neighborhood in north Tallassee is shakened, a longtime friend in disbelief.

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