A survivor of a bloody mass shooting in Birmingham's nightlife district described the scene as a 'war sceene' as he hid from the flying bullets.
Four people are dead and 18 others were injured in Alabama after a "hit" job turned into a mass killing outside of Hush, a lounge in the entertainment district.
"People just laid out on the sidewalk with the smoke of the guns wavering over the sidewalk," said Gabriel Eslami, who was waiting in line when the gunfire erupted around him . "It literally looked like a war scene."
"I look back and there are bodies laid out on the sidewalk with gun smoke still in the air. It looked like something from a horror movie," Eslami said.
The four individuals killed during the horrific moment were identified as Anitra Holloman, 21, from Bessemer, Tahj Booker, 27, Carlos McCain, 27, and 26-year-old Roderick Lynn Paterson Jr.
Eslami told WVTM 13 that he was shot in the buttocks and was recovering in the hospital after the ordeal. Eslami added: "Initially, I thought they were shooting up the front of the line because that's where they were, in the front. They were shooting down the line because I was in the very back."
The shooting late Saturday night in the popular Five Points South entertainment district of Birmingham rocked an area of restaurants and bars that is often bustling on weekend nights.
The mass shooting, one of several this year in the major city, unnerved residents and left officials at home and beyond pleading for help to both solve the crime and address the broader problem of gun violence .
Police have asked for the public's help for information leading to an arrest in the mass shooting this weekend that left four people dead and over a dozen injured.
Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said authorities believe the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, possibly in a murder-for-hire. He said a vehicle pulled up and “multiple shooters” got out and began firing, then fled the scene.
“We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person,” Thurmond said.
Police said approximately 100 shell casings were recovered at the scene. Thurmond said law enforcement was working to determine what weapons were used, but they believe some of the gunfire was “fully automatic.” Investigators were also trying to determine whether anyone fired back, creating crossfire.
In a statement late Sunday, police said the shooters are believed to have used “machine gun conversion devices.” The devices make semi-automatic weapons fire more rapidly. Investigators also were trying to determine whether anyone fired back, creating a crossfire.
The shooting was the nation’s 31st mass killing of 2024, of which 23 were shootings, according to James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Northeastern University, who oversees a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with the university.
Three of the nation’s 23 mass shootings this year were in Birmingham, including two earlier quadruple homicides .
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