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Authorities in Birmingham, Ala., have launched a manhunt for “multiple shooters” on Sunday after four people were killed and 17 others injured in a shooting at a popular nightlife spot in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday, which police describe as a targeted “hit” on one of the victims who were killed.
The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in Five Points South (an entertainment and restaurant district with restaurants and nightlife) on the sidewalk and street outside a hookah and cigar lounge, Hush. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said a vehicle pulled up and “multiple shooters” got out and began firing, then fled the scene. Thurmond believes the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, possibly in a murder-for-hire: “We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person.”
Police said approximately 100 shell casings were recovered at the scene; Chief Thurmond said law enforcement was working to determine what weapons were used, but say that some of the gunfire was “fully automatic’ and police believe Glock switches, which are machine gun conversion devices, were used. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin posted on social media: “Glock switches 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.”
Mayor Woodfin later stated at a Sunday press conference: “The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets .. 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 .. Elected officials locally, statewide and nationally have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence.” The Birmingham mayor also urged state and federal officials to give cities more tools to address gun violence.
Police identified 17 people with injuries, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital sharing they were treating 11 victims, a spokesperson told WVTM in a statement, with injuries ranged from non-life-threatening to at least four life-threatening.
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