Four people were killed and 18 others wounded in a mass shooting in a popular nightlife area in Birmingham, Ala., with many of the victims caught in the crossfire, police said early Sunday. No one was immediately arrested, and police asked the public for information.
The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in the Five Points South entertainment district, Officer Truman Fitzgerald said in an email.
Arriving officers found two men and a woman on a sidewalk with gunshot wounds, and they were pronounced dead there. An additional male gunshot victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, Fitzgerald said.
A preliminary investigation showed that “multiple suspects fired upon a large group of people who were outside in a public area,” Fitzgerald said.
“Detectives believe the shooting was not random and stemmed from an isolated incident where multiple victims were caught in the crossfire,” Fitzgerald said.
By early Sunday, police had identified 18 other victims with injuries, some of them life-threatening.
Authorities believe the intended target was among the dead, Police Chief Scott Thurmond said at a news conference Sunday morning.
“The suspects pulled up in a vehicle, exited the vehicle, conducted a shooting, got back in the vehicle and fled the scene,” Thurmond said.
Anyone with information was asked to contact authorities, and a reward was possible, police said.
A large search for any suspects was underway, and Birmingham police reached out to federal law enforcement authorities for help in the investigation, AL.com reported.
Authorities were trying to determine whether the shooting was a drive-by or committed on foot, police told AL.com.
“Rest assured, we are going to do everything we possibly can to uncover, identify and hunt down whoever was responsible for preying on our people,” Fitzgerald said.
The Five Points South area contains entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and often is crowded on Saturday nights.
Chandler writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jonathan Matisse in Nashville contributed to this report.