AP: Mass shooting kills 4, injures 18 in Birmingham, Alabama, entertainment district

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — Four people were killed and 18 others wounded in a mass shooting in a popular Birmingham, Alabama, nightlife district, with many of the victims caught in the crossfire, police said early Sunday. Authorities asked the public for information in locating the gunmen.

The shooting occurred shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in Five Points South, a neighborhood full of entertainment venues, restaurants and bars that is often crowded on weekends.

Several suspects drove up in a vehicle, got out, fired shots, got back in the vehicle and fled, Police Chief Scott Thurmond said at a press conference on Sunday morning. He described the shooting as possibly “a contract killing” carried out for money.

Officers found two men and a woman with gunshot wounds on a sidewalk and pronounced them dead there. Another male gunshot victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Authorities believe the intended target was among the dead, Thurmond said at the news conference, where he was joined by Mayor Randall Woodfin and officials from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Investigators believe more victims were caught in the crossfire.

By early Sunday, when the first victims arrived at hospitals, police had identified 18 people with injuries, some of them life-threatening, Officer Truman Fitzgerald said in an email.

No immediate arrests were made. Anyone with information was asked to contact the authorities.

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Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.