Someone opened fire on a vehicle outside a Birmingham Family Dollar on Friday afternoon, sending a 22-year-old man to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.
The drive-by gunshot occurred at 2224 Bessemer Road around 3:15 p.m. on Friday. According to police, it was a deliberate attack.
Three persons were shot, including a toddler, prompting the call to police.
However, authorities stated the victim was the sole person shot and was in a car with a 6-month-old girl and the child’s grandmother at the time of the incident.
The Chrysler 300 was parked in the handicap spot outside of the Family Dollar in Five Points West, near to the Food Giant.
More than 51 bullet casings were identified by investigators in the parking area. The Chrysler appeared to be the sole vehicle that had been hit.
When the victim was shot, he was in the back seat.
In critical condition, he was rushed to UAB Hospital.
The child was not hurt, but she had blood on her, which led the initial officers on the scene to believe she was.
The girl’s grandma was hit by shattered glass and received a grazing cut, but she refused to go to the hospital.She was up and walking about, and there were no visible injuries on her.
The suspect took off in a car.
Officers in Birmingham purchased diapers and other supplies for the baby and kept her in an air-conditioned police cruiser until her mother came and took her home.
There have been no arrests. Because the incident occurred in the centre of a bustling commercial sector, investigators are hopeful that there will be plenty of video footage.
Officer Truman Fitzgerald commented on the audacity of the shooting.
“It just speaks to the criminal element that we have in Birmingham, that you would pull up to a car… fire shots, almost kill a young male, almost kill a 6-month-old child who had nothing to do with the situation, and almost kill an older person who also had nothing to do with the situation,” he said.
“It goes against everything we’re working for as a city,’’ he said. “It’s by the grace of God that we don’t have three people dead.”
Anyone with information should contact the Birmingham Police Department at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
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