Following a weekend mass shooting that left four people dead and seventeen injured, authorities have not yet made any official arrests. The shooting was described by the police as a targeted “hit” by multiple shooters who opened fire outside a well-known nightclub in Alabama.
The shooting occurred late on Saturday night in Birmingham’s well-known Five Points South entertainment district, rattling a neighborhood full of eateries and bars that is frequently busy on weekends. The mass shooting, one of several this year in the major metropolis, terrified locals and left officials at home and beyond begging for aid to both solve the crime and address the bigger problem of gun violence.
One day following the shooting, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin stated, “The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets.”
To give updates on the case, the mayor scheduled a Monday morning press conference.
Bloodstains were still apparent on the sidewalk outside Hush, a lounge in the entertainment district, on Sunday morning. The shooting took place on the sidewalk and street outside the establishment.
Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said detectives believe the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, potentially in a murder-for-hire. According to him, when a car arrived, “multiple shooters” got out, started shooting, and then left the area.
Thurmond stated, “We think that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that specific person.”
According to the police, almost 100 shot casings were found. Law enforcement, according to Thurmond, is investigating the guns used, but they think that part of the shots was “fully automatic.” Inquiry into whether anyone retaliated by firing into a crossfire was another goal for the investigators.
The gunmen are thought to have utilized “machine gun conversion devices,” which speed up the firing of semi-automatic weapons, according to a statement released by the police late on Sunday.
