Police say the shooting may have been part of a murder-for-hire plot targeting one person, who was killed.

At least four people have been killed and 18 injured in a mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama, police say.

“Multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people” late on Saturday in the Five Points South area of the city, Birmingham police officer Truman Fitzgerald said.

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.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    1032·
    1 month ago

    There have been more than 400 mass shootings across the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed.

    Anyone know why there isn’t a governmental database of mass shootings?

    That’s right.

  • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
    372·
    1 month ago

    “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.

    Does this guy not know that it’s already illegal at the federal level? You can buy these things on sites like temu. I got a temu ad on Facebook one time that showed one. They will never outlaw semi auto pistols in a red state, there’s nothing they can do except block websites where you can buy these items, even then you can 3d print or machine one on your own.

    • seaQueue@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 month ago

      I mean, it’s pretty straightforward to run sting buy operations and then go after the platform selling illegal products. I’m surprised there isn’t an ATF taskforce devoted to combing the usual internet marketplaces and then filing federal charges.

      • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 month ago

        I’m sure they have immunity because they are an intermediary, just like a social media company isn’t responsible for the content their users post as long as they remove illegal content when they see it.

    • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
      3·
      1 month ago

      This. It is already 100% illegal to manufacture new machineguns at the Federal level, which carries a 10 year prison sentence for each count, not to mention the felonious assaults that occurred.

      The official saying this is literally just coming up with the most half assed “not our fault” bit of press junket garbage he can. Either that or he is deliberately lying because he doesn’t align politically with the state level politicians and wants to try to apply false blame to them.

      It is unconstitutional to outlaw Glock handguns, and the full auto bits are already illegal. The actual solution is to 1) find the perps and put them under the fucking jail and 2) sanction the fuck out of Chinese commercial entities that are actively trying to destabilize the US with fentanyl and illegal weapons.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    224·
    1 month ago

    Sounds gang-related. Just another reason we need to address socioeconomic inequality.

  • FirstCircle@lemmy.mlEnglish
    11·
    1 month ago

    At the scene, multiple people pulled over in a car and fired with at least one automatic weapon at one person before getting back into the vehicle and fleeing the scene, Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said in an update Sunday morning. More than 100 shell casings were collected at the scene, among other pieces of evidence, and bystanders were caught in the crossfire.

    Thurmond said the shooting was not random and may have stemmed from an alleged murder-for-hire against an individual in the Five Points South entertainment district at the time. No one is in custody, but police are asking for businesses and witnesses to report any information they have.

    City and police officials believe a switch — a small device that can convert a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon — may have been used in the shooting.

    https://wbhm.org/2024/birmingham-police-4-dead-dozens-injured-in-five-points-south-mass-shooting/

  • ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    9·
    1 month ago

    The shooting may have been a result of a murder-of-hire plot, Police Chief Scott Thurmond was quoted as saying by local news outlet Al.com.

    Isn’t this, like, just about the worst possible way to conduct a hit? Even if you have a callous disregard for human life, it should be obvious that more victims + more witnesses = more heat. Single murders go unsolved all the time. Murdering a whole street full of people basically guarantees that the police will eventually find you and whoever hired you, unless you manage to flee the country or something.

    I know the murderers are real people and not, like, Agent 47, so they can’t be perfectly subtle, but they didn’t even make the smallest token effort to avoid collateral damage by, for example, jumping the target while they were alone. It’s almost like they were hired to do as much damage as possible… but who would be dumb enough to take a job that’s basically certain to be their last?

    • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      1 month ago

      I suspect discount assassins aren’t as well organized as the sort that James Bond would typically encounter.

      • ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        I mean, lots of people who aren’t particularly well organized manage to at least murder their victims without killing any bystanders. Doing the hit in public and also killing or injuring over 20 bystanders is either intentional or astonishingly incompetent.

  • frazw@lemmy.worldEnglish
    71·
    1 month ago

    Surely the day is approaching where enough Americans have been personally affected by gun violence that there are more that have than haven’t. I often wondered if the reason it persists is because it is something that happens to other people so there is no feeling of urgency to put it at the center of politics. But it happens every fucking month??? …wait, I just checked and I’m being too generous with “month”. They happen almost every day. We only seem to hear about them once or twice a month outside America. You guys have them more regularly than sports games.

    • LilB0kChoy@lemm.ee
      71·
      1 month ago

      Assuming the US lasts long enough I’d imagine there’s two potential outcomes:

      1. Enough people will have grown up facing gun violence, school shooter drills etc. that there’ll finally be enough people to effect change.

      2. With any luck all the gun nuts end up shooting each other allowing the rest to live in relative peace.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    1 month ago

    This really sucks for Birmingham. Birmingham, AL is a really cool town with really down-to-earth people.