By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A Shelby County grand jury has upheld a capital murder charge against a 43-year-old Alabaster man who police said shot and killed a Chevron gas station clerk in late October, according to court records.

The grand jury returned a one-count indictment against Michael Anthony Powell, who lists an address on Third Street Northeast in Alabaster, upholding the capital murder charge originally brought against him by the Alabaster Police Department on Oct. 30.

Powell is facing allegations he shot and killed 54-year-old Pelham resident Tracy Latty Algar while Algar was working a Sunday morning shift at Alabaster’s Kirkland Chevron off U.S. 31. He has been held in the Shelby County Jail without bond since his Nov. 4 arrest, and is now scheduled for arraignment in Shelby County District Court on Dec. 5 at 1:30 p.m.

During the crime, Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said the suspect allegedly entered the gas station, took Algar into the bathroom and shot her in the top of the head, killing her. The suspect allegedly stole a “couple hundred dollars” in the robbery before fleeing the scene on foot, Rigney said.

Alabaster police responded to the gas station at about 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 30 after receiving a report of a robbery at the location. When officers arrived, they discovered the clerk shot to death, according to Rigney. Rigney previously said the shooting likely happened sometime between 9-11:15 a.m.

On Oct. 31, Alabaster police released an image and video of a “person of interest” in the case, and requested the public’s help in identifying the man. The video and the community’s help aided in identifying the suspect, and officers took him into custody at his residence shortly after 5 a.m. on Nov. 4.

If convicted of the capital murder charge, Powell could face the death penalty.