Manhunt launched for ‘multiple shooters’ after at least 4 killed and 17 injured in Birmingham Today

A manhunt is underway for “multiple shooters” who “fired upon a large group of people” in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four people and injuring 17, police said Sunday.

Police Chief Scott Thurmond said multiple people arrived in a vehicle, got out, and fired fire before returning to the vehicle to flee. Twenty-one persons were shot, four of whom died.

On Sunday night, Birmingham police identified three of the four deceased as Alabama residents: Anitra Holloman, 21, of Bessemer; Tahj Booker, 27, of Birmingham; and Carlos McCain, 27, of Birmingham. The fourth individual who died, described as a man by police, had yet to be identified.

Thurmond did not provide the identities of any suspects. He said a preliminary inquiry led authorities to believe the gunmen were targeting a single person.

“We believe there was a hit, if you will, on that particular person as far as someone willing to pay money to have that person killed,” Thurmond told reporters.

That person, who was not recognised by authorities, was among those killed, he claimed. Thurmond also stated that investigators believe at least one fully automatic weapon, which is forbidden except in rare circumstances, was fired.

According to NBC station WVTM of Birmingham, the incident took place outside Hush, a lounge in the city’s historic Five Points South nightlife neighbourhood.

According to the Birmingham News, shooting erupted when customers were waiting in queue to enter Hush. It interviewed Hush owner Ryan Pryor, who opened the nightclub in 2019 after retiring from the Birmingham Police Department, where he had served as an officer.

“Unfortunately, some of my patrons who happened to be standing on the pavement were injured and killed,” Pryor told the local newspaper.

Another venue linked with Pryor did not reply to a request for comment from either him or a representative.

Hush expressed “heartfelt condolences” and was “deeply saddened” by Saturday night’s events in an Instagram Story uploaded on Sunday.

“It is heartbreaking that a moment meant for gathering and community was shattered by such tragedy,” according to a statement. “As we all process this, we must continue to support each other, hold space for those in pain, and work towards fostering peace and safety in our communities.”

Birmingham police trucks are near the area where several persons were shot late Saturday.
Birmingham police trucks are near the area where several persons were shot late Saturday.Gabriel Eslami, 24, of Trussville, Alabama, posted on Facebook about hearing dozens of gunfire while in queue outside Hush.

“I start running then out of no where I can’t feel my leg and I fall,” he wrote in his piece. “When I get up, I look back and just see bodies laid out and smoke everywhere.”

Eslami praised a friend who was also hurt with getting into his vehicle, driving to his location, and transporting him to the University of Alabama’s UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Hannah Echols, a university spokesman, verified via email that Eslami had been treated and released.

“I had a bullet enter my left butt cheek and come out of my thigh, millimetres from my main artery,” Eslami wrote on her Facebook page. “UAB’s Trauma team did amazing work.”

Following the incident, photos and videos were shared on social media, showing at least two people who appeared to be injured on the ground outside, as well as those yelling as they waited for doctors.

At least four of the injured have “life-threatening injuries,” Birmingham Police Officer Truman Fitzgerald told a press conference hours after the event.

Fitzgerald stated that officers arrived on the site shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday and “observed two adult males and one adult female who was unresponsive on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound.”

Medics declared them “dead at the scene,” he said, adding that the fourth victim was pronounced dead at nearby UAB Hospital. The hospital stated that it treated 12 individuals.

“There is no one in custody,” Fitzgerald explained. “Rest assured, we are going to do everything we possibly can to make sure that we uncover, identify and hunt down who was ever responsible for preying on our people,” a spokesperson stated.

On Sunday morning, Birmingham police claimed in a video statement that “multiple victims were caught in the crossfire.” When asked at a following news conference if anyone returned fire, Thurmond, the police chief, said investigators were looking into it.

He stated that “multiple shell casings” were discovered at the scene and that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was assisting in the investigation of the guns used.

The FBI was also involved in the probe, he stated.

Thurmond urged anyone with information to come forward and assured the public that they could provide tips anonymously.

Police also requested businesses with security cameras in the neighbourhood to review their footage and share any relevant information to police.

This is the second mass shooting in the city this year. In July, four people were slain in a nightclub.

Mayor Randall Woodfin made an impassioned plea for reform, claiming that the city had a significant decrease in gun violence after a federal ban on assault weapons was implemented in 1994. Woodfin stated that violent crime increased after the ban lapsed ten years later.

Since the restriction was repealed, the types of weapons used in gun-related crimes have evolved, increasing the number of firearm killings, Woodfin said.

“Do not tell me that this cannot be solved. At the same time, don’t tell me that the police are the only ones who can solve this,” Woodfin said Sunday morning. “Elected officials — locally, statewide and nationally — have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence.”