Birmingham city leaders alarmed by shooting that left young woman dead

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Shell casings riddled the parking lot of the Marion Ridge Apartments Tuesday night in a shooting that left one dead.

Birmingham police say multiple shots were fired following a physical altercation at the apartment complex on Gallant Drive. 21-year-old Asia Poole was pronounced dead at the scene and a man was taken to UAB Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“It is alarming that the amount of people that were present and did not intervene in the fight to keep the situation from happening. It’s sad,” Sgt. Laquitta Wade with the Birmingham Police Department said.

Poole’s car was also stolen from the scene but has since been recovered by investigators. BPD says the incident was also caught on video.

“The videos have been circling around and it’s just awful, showing the violence,” Apple Valley Neighborhood President Willie Goldsmith said. “The number of gunshots, I mean it sounds like you’re in Beirut or something, and then the screaming and the hollering, it’s almost like an inhumane condition.”

Goldsmith said the apartment complex where the incident took place has been a concern in the neighborhood for several years.

“I moved to the neighborhood 24 years ago and in the last three to four years, the things that have been going on … I don’t even recognize it,” he said.

According to the Birmingham City Attorney Nicole King, a public nuisance lawsuit was filed against the complex in 2021.

Following Tuesday’s incident, the Office of the City Attorney’s Drug Nuisance Abatement Team says they are investigating the next steps.

“As a city councilor, I think we have to remain vigilant,” Birmingham City Councilor Clinton Woods said. “We can’t give into apathy. We have to continue to fight to find ways to address this in our community.”

Woods says steps are being taken to crack down on senseless violence in District 1 and he’s calling on the community to come together as one.

“For me to just see men gathered around to watch some young ladies fight, it’s just not what I expect from young men in the community, so we’ve all got to do a better job,” Woods said.

Anyone with information on this case can call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. You can remain anonymous.

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