Alabama mass shooting gunmen used fully automatic weapon in attack that left 4 dead, 17 wounded in popular college bar area: police

The gunmen who opened fire outside a popular hookah bar, killing four people and wounding 17 others, on Saturday night likely used weapons with an illegal “switch” that allowed them to fire fully-automatic — maximizing the casualties, according to authorities.

Police said the gunmen found a single intended target standing outside a nightclub and sprayed bullets into a bustling street full of bars and restaurants that’s popular with college students, and just a few blocks from the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

“They were in a vehicle, got out of the vehicle, shooting occurred, they fled in the vehicle,” Birmingham police chief Scott Thurman told reporters.

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The shooting lasted only moments, but police found more than 100 empty shell casings at the scene. Police believe at least one weapon had been outfitted with a “Glock switch” that allowed the handgun to fire full auto, according to WVTM-TV .

Machine guns and other fully automatic weapons are illegal in the US — except for a few exceptions that require onerous federal licenses.

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However, these illegal conversations have become a scourge on the streets of Birmingham, Mayor Randall Woodfin told reporters.

“There’s a certain element in this community who are too comfortable riding around with semi automatic weapons, automatic weapons, convergent switches, and everything else, whose only hell-bent intent is to harm people,” Woodfin said.

The gunmen’s intended target had been standing outside the Hush Cigar and Hookah Lounge, a basement club that often has a long line of people waiting to get in. It is located in Birmingham’s Five Points neighborhood, a trendy spot that’s popular with university students.

This is the third quadruple homicide this year for Birmingham. In July, a drive-by shooting at an adult birthday party killed four and injured nine others. The city had 135 homicides in 2023, according to AL.com .

Another shooting occurred at a different night club just a few hours after the killings, although police say the two were unrelated.

No arrests have been made so far, and the hunt for the gunmen continues.

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