Four people were killed and at least 21 others injured when “multiple shots” erupted in a popular entertainment district of Birmingham, Alabama Saturday night as police assured they will “hunt down” those responsible.
Birmingham Police said it was responding to the scene where “multiple people were shot with possibly multiple casualties just after 11 p.m. near 20th Street and Magnolia Ave. in Five Points South, a popular nightlife section of the city.
The Five Points South area has numerous entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and often attracts large crowds on Saturday nights.
Initial reports suggested the victims were waiting to enter Hush, a hookah and cigar lounge, according to AL.com.
First responders discovered two adult males and an adult female “unresponsive on the sidewalk suffering from gunshot wounds” and were pronounced dead at the scene, Birmingham Officer Truman Fitzgerald told reporters.
A fourth victim, who was transported to UAB Hospital, was pronounced dead.
“We also began locating multiple additional gunshot victims in and around the area,” he said.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue transported eight victims to local hospitals as others were brought by private vehicles.
Police wouldn’t confirm the exact number of victims as the situation was still fluid.
“In these types of situations, when you lock into a number, that number typically changes, so we can for a fact say we have dozens of gunshot victims from this area.”
All the victims were “out in the open” either on a sidewalk or in the street.
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“These group of shooters fired upon their victims while they were out in the open” he said.
“We believe that multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people,” Fitzgerald said.
No arrests have been made as police urged the public to relay information regarding the shooting.
“Rest assured we are gonna do everything we possibly can to make sure that we uncover, identify and hunt down who is ever responsible for this preying on our people this morning,” Fitzgerald added.
Detectives were investigating if the shooters were on foot or in a car, and if they were using switches, a small device that can turn a semi-automatic gun into a fully automatic weapon.
Saturday night’s shooting is the second mass shooting to rock Birmingham this year.
On July 13, four people were killed during a drive-by-shooting at an adult birthday party, leaving nine injured, according to AL.com.
“These mass shootings have more to do with culture then they do criminality,” Fitzgerald said. “Mayor Randall Woodfin said it best this weekend ‘we’re seeing far too many arguments being settled by bullets,’ and I think this speaks to exactly what our mayor recently said.”
With Post wires
