By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 44-year-old Alabaster man who is facing a capital murder charge tied to the October shooting death of a Chevron convenience store clerk is now facing two additional charges for his alleged criminal actions in the Shelby County Jail.

Michael Anthony Powell, who lists an address on Third Street Northeast in Alabaster, was indicted by a Shelby County grand jury in November on a 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 allegedly attempted to identify himself as another inmate in the jail in early December, according to the latest arrest warrants filed against him.

In addition to the capital murder charge, Powell is now facing a felony obstruction of justice by using a false name charge and a misdemeanor count of tampering with physical evidence charge.

According to his most recent warrants, Powell allegedly attempted to use a letter to identify himself as another inmate in the jail who is facing a public intoxication charge. The warrants claim Powell made a letter attempting to identify himself as the other inmate “with the intent that it be introduced in the pending or prospective official proceeding.”

Powell is now set to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court for arraignment on Dec. 21.

During the Chevron shooting, 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.

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.