A shooting in Birmingham on Easter Sunday killed a 32-year-old woman and injured at least five others by gunfire, including four youths.
According to authorities, the shooting took place at 7pm at WC Patton Park. Birmingham’s fire and rescue service transported three of the victims and two others arrived at hospitals in private vehicles. Initially, firefighters said two of the injured are in a serious condition and one critical. Birmingham Police Sgt. Rod Mauldin later said that all the surviving victims were stable for the time being.
In addition to the 32-year-old woman killed, the other wounded are 21, 17, 16, 15 and 4 years old.
The woman who was killed was apparently shot in the head. The 16-year-old boy who was shot in the right hip. Another female was shot in the breast. It was not immediately clear who the victims were.
Gunfire erupted inside the busy WC Patton Park in Birmingham on Easter Sunday, killing at least one person and injuring at least four.
An eyewitness said there were about 1,000 people in the park celebrating Easter, and many barbecuing with their families. She said two women were sitting on top of a blue Dodge Charger when someone opened fire and hit the Charger and the two women. The witness said one of the women was the person who, according to authorities, was shot in the chest; the witness said the other is the deceased victim. She was pronounced dead in the back seat of the vehicle.
The witness said one person opened fire and then several people started firing in different directions. She saw people running and leaving, and the police and ambulances struggling to get in. “They did not even know what they were shooting at,” she said, estimating that about 100 shots had been fired.
Mauldin said investigators believe an altercation among a group of men led to the shots. The majority of the victims are presumably innocent bystanders.
“This park was full of people, full of families, and we know people saw things,” Mauldin said. “We need people to come forward with information about this incident. No matter how big or small you think it is, it’s of value to us tonight. We need descriptions. We need names. ”
Patton Park has long been a gathering place on Sundays. Although there have been problems among the crowd in the past, police have said there have been no problems for some time. “But today is a big problem,” Mauldin said.
“We need to stand up for our communities when such things happen,” he said. “It was a park full of people and there were several children in the park tonight.”
Mauldin said such violence is frustrating to the community. “People want to get out to our parks and have a good time, enjoy their families,” he said. “These suspects chose to endanger everyone.”
“This incident just shows that we have a lot of work to do,” Mauldin said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Birmingham Police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
This message will be updated.