A mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama, has left at least four people dead and 18 injured, according to authorities. According to Birmingham Police Officer Truman Fitzgerald, “multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people” late Saturday in the city’s Five Points South neighborhood. Officers discovered the deaths of two males and one woman at the site, and a third man later died of bullet wounds in hospital, Birmingham Police said.
The assailants are thought to have approached the scene in a car before exiting and opened fire. No one has been arrested. Mr Fitzgerald went on to say that they felt the shooting was “not random and stemmed from an isolated incident where multiple victims were caught in the crossfire.” According to Al.com, Police Chief Scott Thurmond believes the shooting was the product of a murder-for-hire plot.
The designated target was among those killed, Mr Thurmond stated at a news conference on Sunday. “It wasn’t the location, it was the person, so wherever the person was was where it was going to happen, wherever they could catch that individual,” Mr Thurmond explained. “That’s just where they happened to catch them.”
The remaining victims, all of whom were standing outside, are thought to have been caught in the gunfire. Mr Fitzgerald stated that four of the victims sustained life-threatening wounds.
The BBC contacted the Birmingham Police Department for comment. Authorities are also trying to find the shooters. The police stated that they are collaborating with the FBI and other federal agencies, offering a $5,000 prize for information, and have set up an online portal for sharing images and videos of the incident.
The Five Points South district is famous for its nightlife. Mr Fitzgerald said the gunshot occurred on Magnolia Avenue. Witnesses who were queuing outside a hookah and cigar lounge on Magnolia Avenue at the time informed local news site Al.com that part of the shots appeared to be from fully automatic weapons.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Fitzgerald told reporters that there were “dozens of gunshot victims” following the event. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin blamed the violence on “Glock switches” – devices that can be connected to handguns to make them fire automatically – saying on social media on Sunday that they “are the number one public safety issue in our city and state.” “Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that discharges all bullets within seconds doesn’t belong on our domestic streets,” he said, adding that the state, not the city, had the authority to outlaw Glock switches. He told CNN later on Sunday that more than 100 shot casings had been discovered at the crime scene.
