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.
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.
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.