The death of a 36-year-old Selma man has been ruled a homicide, according to Lt. Curtis Muhannad with the Selma Police Department.

Preliminary autopsy reports from the Department of Forensic Science showed that Jimmie Wayne Griffin Jr. died from a gunshot wound from a shotgun to his left shoulder.

Griffin’s body was found in a burned out trailer April 11 by the Selma Fire Department after they responded to a fire on Karen Street.

“The main part of the trailer was fully involved, so they entered through the back addition of the trailer and tried to cut the fire off from where it had already burned and tried to keep it from extending any further,” said Selma Fire Chief Mike Stokes.

“Once they got the fire knocked down, the crew that had entered noticed some things that were out of place, and upon further investigation, they realized there was probably reason to continue a search.”

Griffen’s body was found by firefighters, but he was already deceased, according to authorities. .

According to Stokes, evidence shows that the fire was set intentionally, but officials with the Alabama State Fire Marshal’s Office aren’t quite sure yet what caused the fire.

“There were possibilities of two different fires at this residence that was intentionally set we do believe. We have reason to believe that it is arson or intentionally set fires,” Stokes said.

“We’re still waiting on results of samples that were taken from the scene. Those samples will go off to the lab, and it will be determined if there was an accelerant used or what may have been used to ignite the fire.”

This case is something unlike Stokes has seen inside the city limits of Selma in his 25 years on the job.

“This will be the first [case] in my jurisdiction that I’ve had a homicide that has been tried to cover up by a fire,” Stokes said.

According to Muhannad, a 12-gauge shotgun was discovered by investigators at the scene of the crime.

No one has been arrested in connection to Griffin’s death at this time.