At least four killed, multiple injured in late night shooting in Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama: Four people were killed and 17 others injured when multiple shooters opened fire on Saturday in what police described as a targeted “hit” on one of the people killed at a popular nightlife spot in Birmingham, Alabama.

Police at the scene of a mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama.Credit: X/@WBRCnews

The shooting happened shortly after 11pm Saturday in Five Points South, a district filled with entertainment venues, restaurants and bars that is often crowded on weekend nights. The mass shooting, one of several this year in the city, unnerved residents in the area and left city officials pleading for help to both solve the crime and address the broader problem of gun violence.

“The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said at a Sunday press conference.

The shooting occurred on the sidewalk and street outside Hush, a hookah and cigar lounge. Blood stains were visible on the sidewalk outside the venue on Sunday morning.

Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said authorities believe the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, possibly in a murder-for-hire. He said a vehicle pulled up and “multiple shooters” got out and began firing, then fled the scene.

“We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person,” Thurmond said.

Police said approximately 100 shell casings were recovered at the scene. Thurmond said law enforcement was working to determine what weapons were used, but they believe some of the gunfire was “fully automatic.” Investigators were also trying to determine whether anyone fired back, creating crossfire.

Police said officers found two men and a woman on a sidewalk with gunshot wounds and they were pronounced dead there. An additional male gunshot victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to police.

By early Sunday, after victims began showing up at hospitals, police had identified 17 people with injuries, some of them life-threatening. Four of the surviving victims, in conditions ranging from good to critical, were being treated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital on Sunday afternoon, according to Alicia Rohan, a UAB spokeswoman.

The scene of a fatal Saturday night shooting outside Hush, a hookah lounge, in the Five Points neighborhood of Birmingham.Credit: AP

Geoffrey Boshell, a 22-year-old biomedical engineering student who lives nearby, said he was working on a school project when he heard a burst of rapid pops that he said sounded like automatic gunfire.

“I heard it, looked out my window and immediately see people screaming, fleeing the scene,” Boshell said.

The shooting in the bustling and popular area was unnerving, he said. “I’m not sure scared is the right word. Just very disturbed that it was happening right outside where you are living.”

Woodfin expressed frustration at what he described as an epidemic of gun violence in America.

“We find ourselves in 2024, where gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country. And the city of Birmingham, unfortunately finds itself at the tip of that spear,” he said.

AP

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