Erica Siaulinski, Staff Writer
1 dead and 8 wounded after a shooting right outside Legion Field following the annual college ‘Magic City Classic’ football game on Saturday, October 31st . The game is an annual tradition between Alabama A&M and Alabama State.
Bystanders reported hearing gunshots near Legion Field around 7:50 pm, Birmingham police officers responded and located multiple gunshot victims upon responding to the calls. “Multiple firearms were recovered from the scene by officers and turned into our property room,” De’Rell Freeman, assistant public information officer with the Birmingham Police Department told reporters after the mass shooting.
On Sunday, November 1st, it was discovered that there had actually been two shootings, within a short span of time to each other. The first shooting resulted in six victims, followed by the second that resulted in three more. The shootings were about three minutes apart from each other. The shooting began after most people had left the stadium, and the game had been long over. Victims ranged from ages 19 to 30, and were almost immediately taken to medical centers to receive further medical care. One victim was pronounced dead on the scene while five others remained in stable condition, two were in critical condition and the other victim was described as “fighting for his life”.
The reason behind the shooting remains unclear, a 17 year old, who had no affiliation with either school, was taken into custody
Michael Pickett, chief of the Birmingham Police Department stated that he was “very grateful that more people were not injured”. The Police department took safety measures of suspending tailgating at sports games in an effort to reduce gathering. Mayor Woodfin of Birmingham spoke out in a social media post following the shooting, stating that “no argument, no beef, no misunderstanding that can justify this level of senseless violence during a night of celebration.”
The Gun Violence Archive reported 405 mass shootings as of Saturday, October 31st, the day of the shooting in just the United States alone. Resulting in a total of 415 deaths, and over 1,755 injuries ranging from mild and non life threatening, to severe life altering injuries that will follow people for the remainder of their lives, or even shorten their lives due to the severity.
Leave a Reply