A manhunt is underway for “multiple shooters” who killed four people and injured 17 when they “fired upon a large group of people” in Birmingham, Alabama, police said Sunday.
Police Chief Scott Thurmond said multiple people pulled up in a vehicle, got out and opened fire before they got back inside the vehicle to flee. A total of 21 people were shot, including the four people killed.
On Sunday night, Birmingham police identified three of the four deceased, described as Alabama residents, as: Anitra Holloman, 21, of Bessemer; Tahj Booker, 27, of Birmingham; and Carlos McCain, 27, also of Birmingham. Identification was still pending for the fourth person who died, described by police as a man.
Thurmond did not release the identities of any suspects. He said a preliminary investigation led police to believe the shooters were targeting one person.
“We believe there was a hit, if you will, on that particular person as far as someone willing to pay money to have that person killed,” Thurmond said.
That person, who was not identified by police, was among those killed, he said. Thurmond added that investigators believe at least one fully automatic weapon, which is illegal except in rare cases, was fired.
The shooting happened outside Hush, a lounge in the city’s historic Five Points South nightlife district, according to NBC affiliate WVTM of Birmingham.
The Birmingham News reported that people were in line waiting to get into Hush when gunfire erupted. It interviewed Hush owner Ryan Pryor, who it reported opened the venue in 2019 after he retired from the Birmingham Police Department, where he had been an officer.
“Unfortunately, some of my patrons who happened to be standing on the sidewalk were injured and killed,” Pryor told the newspaper.
Another venue associated with Pryor did not respond to a request for comment from him or a representative.
In a statement posted as an Instagram Story on Sunday, Hush offered “heartfelt condolences” and said it was “deeply saddened” by the events of Saturday night.
“It is heartbreaking that a moment meant for gathering and community was shattered by such tragedy,” the statement said. “As we all process this, we must continue to support each other, hold space for those in pain, and work toward fostering peace and safety in our communities.”
Gabriel Eslami, 24, of Trussville, Alabama, said in a post on Facebook that he was in line outside Hush when he heard dozens of shots ring out.
“I start running then out of no where I can’t feel my leg and I fall,” he wrote. “When I get up, I look back and just see bodies laid out and smoke everywhere.”
Eslami credited a friend who he said was also injured with going to his vehicle, driving to his location and taking him to the University of Alabama’s UAB Hospital in Birmingham. University spokesperson Hannah Echols confirmed by email that Eslami was treated and released.
“I had a bullet enter my left butt cheek and come out of my thigh, millimeters from my main artery,” Eslami said on Facebook. “UAB’s Trauma team did amazing work.”
Photo and video posted to social media after the shooting showed at least two people apparently injured on the ground outside, as well as some people’s yelling as they awaited medics.
At least four of the wounded have “life-threatening injuries,” Birmingham Police Officer Truman Fitzgerald said at a news conference hours after the incident.
Fitzgerald said officers arrived on the scene shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday and “observed two adult males and one adult female who was unresponsive on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound.”
Medics pronounced them “dead at the scene,” he said, adding that the fourth victim was pronounced dead at nearby UAB Hospital. The hospital said it treated 12 people.
“There’s no one in custody,” Fitzgerald said. “Rest assured, we are going to do everything we possibly can to make sure that we uncover, identify and hunt down who was ever responsible for preying on our people,” he added.
On Sunday morning, Birmingham police said in a video statement that “multiple victims were caught in the crossfire.” Asked at a subsequent news conference whether if anyone returned fire, Thurmond, the police chief, said investigators were trying to determine whether that was the case.
He said “multiple shell casings” were recovered at the scene, adding that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was helping develop information about the guns used.
The FBI was also participating in the investigation, he said.
Thurmond urged anyone with information to come forward, assuring members of the public they can offer tips anonymously.
Police also urged businesses with security cameras in the area to check their video and provide anything relevant to investigators.
It is the second mass shooting in the city this year. In July, four people were killed at a nightclub.
Mayor Randall Woodfin made an impassioned plea for change, saying the city saw a steep decline in gun violence after a federal ban on assault weapons was instituted in 1994. Woodfin added that violent crime ticked up after the ban expired 10 years later.
Since the ban was lifted, the styles of weapon used in gun-related crimes have changed to increase the scale of firearm homicides, Woodfin said.
“Do not tell me this is not solvable. At the same time, do not tell me this is only on the police to solve,” Woodfin said Sunday morning. “Elected officials — locally, statewide and nationally — have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence.”
