According to the New York Times, Adam Simjee and his girlfriend, Mikayla Paulus, were driving in the Talladega National Forest on the morning of August 14 when they stopped to help a woman who flagged them down and claimed her car wouldn’t start. Once the couple got out of the car, the woman, identified as Yasmine Hider, allegedly pulled out a gun and forced the couple to walk back into the woods.
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A statement from the Clay Country Sheriff’s Office, obtained by local television station WBRC, said Simjee drew his own gun and “an exchange of gunfire” resulted in Hider being shot multiple times in the torso and Simjee being shot once in the back. Story continues below ad Paulus, 20, was not injured in the fight and tried to revive her boyfriend by administering CPR, but he died at the scene, authorities said. Adam Simjee and Mikayla Paulus. GoFundMe “Adam pulled out his gun and told her to get on the ground and that’s when he started messing with her gun. He blocked once, but they both shot at each other and she got shot a couple of times and he only got shot once,” Paulus told ABC News. Authorities said Hider appeared to be living with others in the woods, and last week she and another woman, Krystal Diane Pinkins, were charged with murder, kidnapping and robbery. According to the Florida Sun Sentinel, Pinkins, 36, stood in the woods while Hider allegedly held the couple at gunpoint. After shots were fired, Hider called Pinkins for help, but Pinkins fled. Story continues below ad
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A short time later, a surveillance team from the Alabama Department of Corrections found what was described as a “base camp” nearby, where Pinkins was hiding near a group of tents. As officers ordered her to the ground, “a 5-year-old child ran out of the woods holding a loaded shotgun,” the statement said. Officers told the child, later identified as Pinkins’ son, to drop the gun, but he continued to walk toward his mother before finally putting it to the ground, officials said. The women may have been living “off the grid” in the National Forest, the sheriff’s statement said, and rangers broke up their camp.
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Pinkins faces an additional charge on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a child, the Sun Sentinel reports. Paulus’ mother, Heather Lambert, told WBRC the couple was taking one last summer road trip before returning to college in the fall. “They like to travel together,” Lambert said. “They were going to go to the waterfall, so they were driving and this girl flagged them down and said she needed help with her car, so they stopped.” Story continues below ad Lambert said Simjee brought protection — the gun he used — to help keep them safe while traveling. “I don’t know how Mikayla didn’t get shot in all of this, but she had her shirt off to stop the bleeding and called 911 and did chest compressions on him,” Lambert said. “He thinks he was alive for at least 20 minutes, but it took them at least 30 minutes to get there. I don’t know what would have happened if he didn’t have the gun on him.” Hider is recovering in the hospital from surgery for her injuries, police say, and will eventually be taken to jail. Pinkins’ son was placed in the custody of the Department of Human Resources. 4:2012 Alabama girl escapes capture, leads police to 2 bodies leading to arrest Previous Video Next Video © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
