Four people are dead following what police are calling a “targeted” shooting around 3 p.m. Friday on a residential street in the College Hills neighborhood between Parker High School and Legion Field stadium.
I think people know. It wasn’t a random act. Unfortunately, it’s not often we have random acts in our city. This was targeted,” Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said. “There’s people who know why it occurred, they know who’s responsible. We need them to give us that information so we can get those people off the streets of Birmingham.
Three people died at the scene and one other person was transported to the hospital. That person was in surgery but died at the hospital.
Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond gave a press briefing Friday afternoon. He said he chose to address the city because this was an incident that would “rock our city” and “rock this neighborhood.”
Thurmond said the shooting appears to have happened at a neighborhood car wash. He said he doesn’t know police have not determined who a suspect is or how many suspects there are.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin put out a statement Friday night on social media. He said one of the was a family member.
This has been a heartbreaking afternoon for our city. A half dozen families are in mourning. That includes the family of one of our city employees. That also includes my own family.
In two unrelated incidents, four men were killed by gunfire in Smithfield. And in Wylam, two people were found dead. One of them was my cousin.
My family is no stranger to the devastating consequences of violence. The pain never gets easier. This level of loss is distressing, unacceptable and cannot – must not – be tolerated.
But right now I’m not thinking about myself. I’m thinking about that employee’s family who now has an empty chair at the dinner table. I’m thinking about my cousin’s mother. I’m thinking about the other four families who are facing the unimaginable right now.
Even now Birmingham Police are working tirelessly to find answers, but they cannot do it alone. I’m confident that someone reading this knows something.
Please, I implore you, if you know anything about these incidents, contact CrimeStoppers at (205) 254-7777.
Justice cannot be achieved in the dark. The families of these victims deserve answers and the cowards who have such a reckless disregard for life must pay for their actions. Pray for the hurting families. Pray for justice. Pray for us.
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A section of Center Street was taped off Friday afternoon.
The shooting was three blocks from Parker High School. Birmingham City Schools said the school was not placed on lockdown.
This is a developing story and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
Source: abc3340.com
