At least four people have been killed and 18 have been injured in a mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama.
It was an unusual shooting in that multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people.
Typically, there is a single culprit.
Officers found the bodies of two men and one woman at the scene, while a third man later died of bullet wounds in hospital, Birmingham Police said
The culprits are believed to have approached the scene in a car, out of which they then got out to open fire.
No suspects have been arrested.
The shooting may have been a result of a murder-for-hire plot, Police Chief Scott Thurmond has said, and the intended target was one of those killed. Hence, the others were simply collateral victims, as this was the most opportune way for the culprits to shoot this particular individual. Therefore, the fact that this happened in Birminghams nightlife district isn’t particularly relevant.
The police said in a statement that they are working with the FBI and other federal agencies, are offering a $5,000 reward for information and have opened a web portal for submitting photos and videos of the incident.
Witnesses say that the guns sounded like they were automatic – something which Birmingham’s mayor confirmed, saying that Glock switches are “the number one public safety issue in our city and state”.
“Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that discharges all bullets within seconds doesn’t belong on our domestic streets,” he wrote, adding that the city does not have the power to outlaw Glock switches, only the state.
In the past two years only, the US, which has always had a shooting problem, has seen a huge and alarming rising in mass shootings. If there had been over 400 mass shootings across the country, this particular incident is the second mass shooting in Birmingham alone in the past two months – not to mention that in 2024, it marks the third quadruple homicide. There are not mass shootings like this anywhere else in the world.
Gun sales have also seen a 65% increase from 2019.
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