Authorities in Birmingham, Alabama, are still searching for suspects in two shootings that left seven people dead and 10 injured Saturday.
The two shootings occurred within a span of less than six hours Saturday in the city, and no suspects were in custody as of late Sunday.
The first shooting was reported to police around 5:20 p.m.
Officers were dispatched to the scene of a car crash in the 17000 block of Indian Summer Drive, where they found a burned vehicle with three victims inside: a mother, her partner and the mother’s son, believed to be no older than 5 years old. All were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the victims were targeted and shot at from another vehicle which then fled the scene.
Shortly after 11 p.m., police were again dispatched to the scene of a shooting at a nightclub in the 3400 block of North 24th Street.
Inside the nightclub, several victims of a shooting were found. A man was pronounced dead outside on the sidewalk, while two women were pronounced dead inside the nightclub. A fourth victim, a man, died at one of the hospitals where 10 people injured in the shooting later arrived.
Authorities said at least one suspect opened fire into the nightclub from the street.
Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said at a news conference that all of his detectives have been assigned to the two cases with the goal of bringing justice to the victims.
“I want you to know: We will come after you with all our might. With all the law enforcement we have, we will come after you,” he said of the shooters.
To community members, he said they were doing everything they could to bring justice to the victims’ families and to restore peace and security in their communities.
“We will not stop until we achieve this,” he said.
Authorities and officials are calling on members of the public with information about the two shootings to come forward, with Mayor Randall Woodfin saying they know someone knows something about them or has seen them.
“Come to us,” he said. “Provide credible information so we can get these shooters off our streets and continue to protect our community.”
Mr. Thurmond was keen to stress that the wave of violence was not random. The two shootings, while unrelated, were targeted, he said, adding that this should make it easier to pass information to police.
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