Bullet from brothers' gunfight strikes their 80-year-old mother in the head

A gunfight between two Jefferson County brothers ended with their 
80-year-old mother getting shot in the head.
Mollie Mae Hooper was trying to escape the gunfire by running out of
her Muscoda home on Wednesday night when one of the bullets struck her in
the head.
She was taken to UAB West.

Her injury is not believed to be 
life-threatening at this time, said Jefferson County sheriff's Chief 
Deputy Randy Christian.
 The incident happened at about 8 p.m. when Hooper's sons started arguing. They both pulled out guns and started shooting. Hooper was in the kitchen and tried to run out the back door. A single
 bullet struck her in the back of the head. Family members rushed her to
 the hospital.

Sheriff's deputies found one of the brothers at a home on Hillside
 Avenue in Bessemer. The other turned himself into the sheriff's office 
in Bessemer.
Michael Hooper, 57, and Joe Hooper, 52, are charged with first-degree
 assault. They are in the county jail with bond set at $30,000.


"Guns and alcohol are a dangerous combination. Throw a little
 stupidity in there and it almost cost a life," Christian said. "They 
were within an inch of killing their own mother. It doesn't get much
 worse than that."