A Birmingham mother is mourning the loss of her only son after he was gunned down while at work at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer.

Tyler Neil Alexander, a 19-year-old 2025 graduate of Huffman High School, was on break at the Amazon Fulfillment Center on Sunday night when someone unleashed a barrage of bullets in the parking lot.

When the shooting stopped, Alexander was dead on the pavement and his mom was heartbroken.

“He was a good one,” Sophie Brown said Monday. “I need to find out who killed my son while he was being a productive citizen.”

The gunfire erupted at 10:40 p.m. outside the Powder Plant Road facility.

Bessemer police investigators placed at least 10 evidence markers in the cordoned-off parking lot. Amazon canceled the remainder of the night shift as well as Monday’s day shift, sending the employees home with pay.

Amazon offered condolences to Alexander’s family and said counseling would be made available to employees.

Brown, a health care worker, was resting in bed with her alarm set for 3:30 a.m. so that she could have her son’s chicken and waffles or Philly Cheese steak ready when he got off work at 4:30 a.m.

It was something she did for him after each shift he worked.

Sunday night, however, she was awakened by a call instead of her alarm.

Only two people could get through to her when she was asleep – her son and her daughter.

“I knew something had to be wrong when my phone rang,” Brown said.

The voice on the other end of the line was her daughter. Brown learned that her son had been shot, and she quickly found out there was a video already circulating on social media.

“Recording a deceased person online is not cool,” Brown posted to her Facebook page. “We have to change our trajectory when it comes to things of this capacity.’

Brown rushed to the Bessemer warehouse, arriving about midnight.

She said security at the entrance stopped her and said she needed to show identification.

“I said, ‘Did you ask anyone for an ID when my son was killed just a few minutes ago?’” she said. “He didn’t say anything.”

At the crime scene, Brown said, she wasn’t allowed to see her son.

“About seven minutes later the coroner came to me and a showed me a picture and asked me if I knew who that was,” she said. “I told him that was my son.”

Police have not announced any arrests in Alexander’s slaying. Detective Justin Burmeister said it was not immediately clear if the suspect or suspects were also employees.

“I have no idea what occurred,” Brown said.

The grieving mother said her son immediately started school at Lawson State Community College following his high school graduation eight months ago.

Before that, he worked at Taco Bell in the Palisades.

“He was a shift leader at Taco Bell at 18 years old,” she said. “Everybody loved him.”

Brown said her son only started at Amazon about 20 days ago and loved his job.

Just recently, she said he bragged to her about the work he was doing there.

“He said, ‘Mama, they gave me a walkie-talkie. I’m already important,’” she said. “That’s what he told me.”

“He did that with honor and respect,” she added.

Brown described her son as outgoing and bubbly. He loved kids and dogs and his family.

On Friday, Brown had gotten her nails done at a salon. Alexander told her, “I like your nails, Mama,” and slipped money to her under the bathroom door.

“He wanted to pay for my nails,” said. “That was my son.”

Last year, while on his way to Lawson State, Alexander found a dog on Robert Jemison Road that had been hit by a car.

The teen brought the dog home and sought help from the Greater Birmingham Humane Society in finding the dog’s owner.

“He cried his eyes out because we couldn’t keep that do,” she said. “I had a great son.”

Brown vowed to find out who killed her son, and to also learn why the shooter or shooters were allowed on the Amazon campus. She said while the facility is secure inside, there needs to be tighter security in the parking lot.

Brown said she will most remember her son’s smile, his leadership, his love and his happiness.

As for the killer or killers, she had this to say: “You took a great person from us. He would have gave you the shirt off his back.”

“Think about what you did to him,” she said. “God is going to get you.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Bessemer police 205-481-4366, 205-425-2411 or the tip line at 205-428-3541. Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.