September 22, 2024 5:46 PM.
Michael Baruah. Our USA Correspondent.
In the US, four people were shot dead and dozens injured in a tragic mass shooting reported in Birmingham, Alabama. Local police authorities said that the shooting took place just before midnight yesterday, and four victims died at the scene.
Moreover, eight other victims are being treated at the local hospital, and four of them have life-threatening injuries. The police are suspecting the involvement of multiple shooters in the firing incident, and an investigation is underway.
Updated news.
Four people were killed and 17 others were injured when multiple shooters opened fire Saturday evening in a bustling entertainment district in Birmingham, Alabama, in what police now believe was a targeted “hit.”
Just after 11 p.m., multiple people drove up to the Five Points South area, got out of their vehicle and began shooting, then got back in and drove away, Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said Sunday.
Police believe the shooters were carrying out a hit on one person and the other victims were caught in the crossfire.
With no suspects in custody, the Birmingham Police Department is partnering with the FBI and other agencies to investigate, urging anyone with information to come forward.
The shooters are “believed” to have used machine gun conversion devices, according to the Sunday news release. The devices can be used to override the trigger mechanism on a gun, so it functions as a machine gun.
The US Attorney’s office in Birmingham announced an initiative cracking down on the devices in July.
Conversion devices “can convert semi-automatic pistols and rifles into fully automatic weapons in less than 60 seconds,” according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The federal government considers the small devices themselves to be illegal machine guns. Even without an accompanying firearm, they are illegal to own.
Randall Woodfin, the mayor of Birmingham, said gun violence is at an “epidemic level” in the city.
“I want to work with the state to solve this problem,” he said.
When officers arrived at the scene Saturday night, they found two men and a woman unresponsive with gunshot wounds, and all three were later pronounced dead on the scene, Birmingham Police Officer Truman Fitzgerald said. More than 100 shell casings were recovered from the scene, according to the police chief
A fourth victim, an adult male, was pronounced dead at the University of Alabama Hospital, according to hospital staff. Police previously said 18 victims were injured.
Police have identified three of the four people killed as Anitra Holloman, 21; Tahj Booker, 27; and Carlos McCain, 27. Authorities are still working to identify the remaining male victim, according to the Sunday news release.
The White House is coordinating with state and local officials in the aftermath of the shooting, according to Stef Feldman, director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris join Americans across the nation in praying for the families affected by this senseless violence,” she said in a news release. “Americans should not have to live like this. And we can’t let it become normal.”
The city is committed to finding the shooters involved, Woodfin told CNN Sunday evening.
“Our focus and our priority is literally the shooter or shooters who committed this heinous crime – to make sure we can take them off the street,” he said.
The incident is among 404 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
While crime rates are trending down nationally, Birmingham saw a spike earlier this year.