Authorities Looking for Driver Who Allegedly Fled After Hitting Ala. Vet in Wheelchair

Billy Ray Hall Jr. was fatally struck while crossing a Birmingham, Ala., intersection in his wheelchair

An Alabama veteran was crossing an intersection in his wheelchair in the early morning hours of Aug. 17 when he was fatally struck by a vehicle. The driver did not stop.

Billy Ray Hall, Jr., 59, was pronounced dead at the Birmingham intersection 19 minutes later, according to the Jefferson County Coroner and the Birmingham Police Department.

Birmingham police are still investigating “the circumstances surrounding” Hall’s Saturday, Aug. 17 death, per a joint press released by the two agencies.

Little information has come to light about Hall. The Jefferson County Coroner’s office has issued a public statement looking for surviving relatives.

Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates confirms to PEOPLE that Hall was a veteran, although it was not immediately clear in which branch of the military he served.

Shannon Arledge of the Birmingham VAHealth Care System said he could not immediately provide information about Hall’s military career, but called Hall's death “a tragic loss to the veteran community.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of this veteran as they all honor his service and contributions,” Arledge added.

The few records obtained on Hall’s life show that he served a 20-year sentence for a manslaughter conviction in Jefferson County, along with a 15-year concurrent sentence for theft of property.

He was released from state prison in 2013, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections, which searched its database using the name and partial date of birth confirmed to PEOPLE by authorities. The circumstances of that case were not immediately clear.

Records obtained by PEOPLE show that he registered to vote in 2017 and possibly owned several properties in Alabama. Authorities say he lived in Fultondale, Ala., at the end of his life.

In the days following Hall’s death, authorities struggled to find any of Hall’s living relatives. Yates tells PEOPLE that Hall’s family – who live out of state – have since learned of his death in local media articles and “will be claiming the body and making arrangements for final disposition.”

Yates says his office expects to confirm Hall’s cause and manner of death within the next two months.

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Birmingham police recently invested federal money for traffic cameras to be installed in high-crime areas, feeding into the city’s Real Time Crime Center, which is outfitted with license plate readers and other data-driven intelligence to spot crimes that might otherwise have occurred without witnesses.

Birmingham police say they are “more confident” in their ability to identify the driver because of the cameras, citing an earlier hit and run arrest with “similar facts” which they solved with the real time technology.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Officer Truman Fitzgerald confirms to PEOPLE that police had not made an arrest in connection to Hall’s death.

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