AT LEAST FOUR people have been killed and 18 others hurt in a terrible mass shooting.
Police in Birmingham, Alabama are now on the hunt for several gunmen they think may have been responsible for the attack.
“Many shooters fired many shots at a group of people,” said Truman Fitzgerald, a police officer in Birmingham.
On Saturday night, the bodies of two men and a woman were found by the side of the road.
After that, a fourth man died in the hospital from serious shooting wounds.
Police think that one of the people who was shot and killed was the intended target, and the others were killed when they were hit.
Around 11 p.m., shots were fired in the Five Points South entertainment area in front of the popular Hush hookah and cigar lounge on Magnolia Avenue.
Some of the 18 people who were hurt are still said to be in situations that could kill them.
A lot of people are getting help at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital.
Dajon Singleton, a shocked witness, told WVTM that people yelling and crying could be heard down the street.
Geoffrey Boshell, who is 22 years old, was working on a school project when rapidly firing guns could be heard outside his window.
He said, “I heard it and looked out my window right away to see people screaming and running away from the scene.”
“I’m not sure if scared is the right word.” Just very upset that it was happening outside your house.
Police are still looking into whether the shooters approached the victims on foot or were in a car when they opened fire.
They think the attack was “not random and was caused by a single event.”
Police say that more than 100 gun casings were found in the area.
As of now, no one has been caught.
Officer Fitzgerald said, “Don’t worry—we’ll do everything we can to find, identify, and hunt down the person who was taking advantage of our people.”
Police think the gun used was a Glock switch gun, which is like a Glock but has an automatic and a semi-automatic gun connected to it.
Mayor Randall Woodfin of Birmingham said the guns are “the number one public safety issue” in the city.
Because of the attack, he wants them to be banned.
At a news conference on Sunday, Woodfin made a strong plea for safety. He said, “We are in the year 2024, and gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country.”
It’s a shame that the city of Birmingham is at the very tip of that spear.
“Police officers at the local, state, and national levels have a responsibility to address this crisis of gun violence in the United States.”
A group called Gun Violence Archive says that there have been more than 400 mass killings in the US this year.
All of the nearby streets where the shooting happened are now stopped while police continue to search the area.
Officer Fitzgerald said that they have talked to the FBI and ATF about the probe and asked for their help.
There is also a $5,000 prize for information about the possible killers and why they did what they did.
The police in Birmingham have also asked any businesses in the area that have CCTV cameras to look at the video and give it to the police.