A manhunt for ‘multiple shooters’ is underway after four people were killed and several more were injured in Alabama.
The victims were shot on 20th Street near Magnolia Avenue in the Five Points South area of Birmingham, the Birmingham Police Department said.
Officers arrived at the scene and discovered two men and a woman dead at the scene, while a fourth victim died in hospital, WBMA-TV reported. There were 17 more people reported injured.
It’s now thought the shooters were trying to kill a specific target, who is among the dead, as part of a ‘targeted hit’ while the other victims were caught in the crossfire.
The suspects drove up, got out of their vehicle and started shooting before getting back into the car and driving away.
Police Chief Scott Thurmond told CNN: ‘Someone was willing to pay money to have that person killed.’
Police said there have been no immediate arrests.
‘We will do everything we possibly can to make sure we uncover, identify and hunt down whoever is responsible for preying on our people this morning,’ Officer Truman Fitzgerald said.
‘We believe that multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people.
‘Our detectives are working to confirm whether the shooters walked up on the victims or drove by in a vehicle, and that’s why we need the public’s help.
‘All of the victims were out in the open, on either a sidewalk or the street. So this group of shooters fired upon these victims when they were out in the open.
‘We were not told that this happened inside of any business.’
Officers currently believe the shooting was not random, and stemmed from ‘an isolated incident where multiple victims were caught in the crossfire’.
The Five Points South area of Birmingham has entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and is often crowded on Saturday nights.
Officer Truman Fitzgerald described the area as one of the city’s ‘most popular entertainment districts’.
How many mass shootings have taken place so far in the US this year?
Across the US so far this year there has been 403 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
A mass shooting is a shooting where four or more people are injured or killed and this includes ones that happen in both public places but also homes.
Over the last four years, there has been around 600 mass shootings each year.
This equates to around two people killed on average each day by guns in the US.
The deadliest mass shooting in the US happened in Las Vegas in 2017 where more than 50 people were killed and 500 injured.
But mass shootings like this one are rare and the average one results in the deaths of less than 10 people.
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