Four poeople were killed and 17 wounded in a mass shooting outside a popular Alabama nightspot that police say may have been a very targeted murder for hire.
The suspected target of the shooting was among the dead, Birmingham Police Chief Soctt Thurmond said Sunday morning, according to AL.com.
“It wasn’t the location, it was the person, so wherever the person was was where it was going to take place,’’ Thurmond said. “Wherever they can catch that individual. That’s just where they happened to catch them.”
“They” caught the target outside the Hush lounge, a hookah and cigar bar on Magnolia Avenue, near the University of Alabama-Birmingham campus.
“We believe there was a hit, if you will, on that particular person, where someone was willing to pay money to have that person killed,’’ the chief said.
He did not say why investigators believe it was a targeted murder for hire.
Two men and a woman were pronounced dead on the scene, and a third man died at the UAB Hospital.
Thurmond said multiple shooters pulled up outside the lounge just after 11 p.m. Saturday, got out of their car, and opened fire, at least one of them with a fully automatic weapon. More than 100 rounds were fired into the crowd waiting to get into Hush.
Ambulances transported eight victims to the hospital, while more victims showed up on their own or in vehicles of friends to UAB Hospital, Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Brookwood Medical Center, and St. Vincent’s East.
Police have not yet named victims in the shooting. Authorities say they believe “switches” that convert a gun to fully automatic were involved.
“Glock switches are the number one public safety issue in our city and state,’’ Mayor Randall Woodfin said Sunday. “Though illegal under federal law, there is no state law that makes Glock switches illegal.
“Every mayor, police chief, sheriff, and District Attorney I know wants Glock switches outlawed,’’ Woodfin said. “Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that discharges all bullets within seconds doesn’t belong on our domestic streets.”
Federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and FBI agents are assisting local police with the investigation.
Hush is a speakeasy-type club opened in 2019 by Ryan Prior, who retired in March after 20 years as a Birmingham police officer. He was at the club when the shooting took place.
“I would like to stress that this had nothing to do with Hush itself,” he said. “My heart goes out to the families, and I stand with Birmingham on correcting this violence. This gun violence has to stop.”
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[Featured image: Blood stains were visible on the sidewalk outside of a nightclub in Birmingham, Ala. on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, after a mass shooting took place. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)]
