4 killed, 9 wounded in drive-by shooting at adult’s birthday party in Birmingham’s second multiple homicide in 6 hours

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.al.com/news/2024/07/4-killed-9-wounded-in-drive-by-shooting-at-adult-birthday-party-at-birmingham-social-club.html

 

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Updated: Jul. 14, 2024, 8:17 a.m

 

By

• Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

A drive-by shooting at an adult birthday party in Birmingham left four people dead and nine others injured.

 

The deadly shooting happened about six hours after three people - including a young boy - were killed on the city’s eastside.

 

A large crowd was gathered at a social club in the 3400 block of 27th Street for the private party when gunfire erupted just after 11 p.m. Saturday.

 

It was the second incident of multiple homicides in Birmingham in a span of less than six hours Saturday. At about 5:30 p.m., three people were found shot to death in a separate incident.

 

Birmingham police Deputy Chief Rodarius Mauldin said police quickly began receiving calls of multiple shots fired from the birthday party.

 

 

When officers arrived, they put out a max-emergency call for backup because of the large number of people gathered there. He described the scene as chaotic.

 

 

One man was found shot outside of the event venue. Two women were found shot inside the club.

 

 

All three were pronounced dead on the scene.

 

 

Multiple victims began showing up at area hospitals with gunshot wounds, Mauldin said.

 

 

A fourth person was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital. Mauldin said he did not yet know whether that was a man or a woman.

 

 

Nine other people were wounded with injuries not believed to the life-threatening.

 

 

“It’s still a fluid situation,’’ he said.

 

Mauldin said the deadly shots were fired from a vehicle. It wasn’t immediately clear whether there was more than one shooter.

 

“We’re unsure what led to the incident and whether someone was targeted,’’ Mauldin said.

 

 

Numerous Birmingham police investigators responded to the scene, and some were brought in from other investigative units in addition to the homicide unit.

 

 

Mauldin said federal investigators also responded to assist.

 

 

At least 150 people were gathered outside the crime scene tape, including loved ones of those killed and wounded.

 

 

Maulding said detectives hope to get more information from the surviving victims, as well as witnesses who were at the party or in the area.

 

 

“We know there was a lot of people that saw and heard various things,’’ Mauldin said.

 

 

The Saturday night shooting was the second quadruple homicide in Birmingham this year, and the second shooting Saturday that left multiple people dead.

 

 

On Feb. 16, four men were killed in a targeted shooting at a neighborhood car wash in the city’s Smithfield community.

 

 

Earlier Saturday, a mother, her young son and her boyfriend were shot to death while in a vehicle on the city’s eastside.

 

 

[autigeremt 7,263]

Sounding like Chicago 

[Auburn85 438]

These stats are for 2022. Chicago isn't even in the top 10.

 

 

https://www.wlbt.com/2023/01/07/analysis-second-straight-year-jacksons-homicide-rate-ranks-highest-us-among-major-cities/

 

 

 

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By C.J. LeMaster

Published: Jan. 6, 2023

 

 

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Despite a drop in killings last year, the capital city’s homicide rate still managed to surpass every other major city in the U.S. for the second straight year, according to a 3 On Your Side analysis of dozens of municipalities across the country.

Jackson ended 2022 with 138 homicides, a 14 percent drop from the year before, when 160 people lost their lives to violence.

That year would end up being the deadliest in the city’s history, according to records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Jackson Police Department, and the Murder Accountability Project.

For this analysis, 3 On Your Side calculated per capita rates of killings for cities with a population of at least 130,000, including major ones like Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, as well as cities that had previously been ranked for high homicide rates, such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

 

The number of homicides calculated for each city came from the latest available data from news media sources in that respective market or crime statistics from that city’s police department.

Ranking	City	Homicides for Year	Rate Per Capita
1	Jackson	138	92.1
2	New Orleans	280	74.3
3	Birmingham	144	72.9
4	St. Louis	200	68.2
5	Baltimore	334	57.9
6	Baton Rouge	115	51.8
7	Detroit	307	48.5
8	Cleveland, OH	171	46.5
9	Memphis	289 (as of 12/22/22)	46
10	Milwaukee	214	37.59

Calculating the per capita rate of killings means that a city with more homicides than Jackson could still have a lower rate, depending on the population.

For example, 695 people have been killed in Chicago, according to the city’s PBS station; because nearly 2.8 million people live in the Windy City, the rate per capita for that major city is 24.8 per 100,000 residents.

 

In other words, the rate of killings in Jackson is more than three times greater than in Chicago.

“The risk of you being a victim of a homicide, right, like the city of Jackson with the current rate where it’s at, is higher, you know, in general, relative to the risk of another city that has a lower per capita rate,” criminologist and Ole Miss criminal justice department chair Wes Jennings said.

The low number of JPD officers plays a role in that, too, Jennings added, though the actual number of active-duty officers has not been disclosed in months.

“It’s not a function of just adding five more officers will reduce five more crimes. But when they have historically low numbers relative to where they should be, it takes away officer time,” Jennings said. “Ideally, you’d want them to be to have more time to focus more on, you know, violence prevention and intervention.”

 

Jennings said true community policing is difficult to implement when departments barely have enough officers to keep up with 911 calls.

He also says population changes - people leaving Jackson - have affected how a community fights against crime, too.

“If I own a home, and the homeowner next to me, I see their windows broken, I’m going to call the police, and I’m going to help call my neighbor. But if I’m in an area where I’m renting a property, and I see a broken window across from a unit across from me, I might be like, I’m glad it wasn’t my unit. And just keep quiet,” Jennings said. “And then as soon as I get enough resources to move out. So you don’t have a stake in the people or in the area.”

The city of Jackson is implementing an Office of Violence Prevention in the coming months to help with those efforts.

Jennings says more comprehensive community policing - having enough officers that they can go into gas stations and restaurants, increasing visibility - and curfews combined with more activities for young people can also help tremendously.

WLBT’s data also shows homicide victims are trending younger.

Two years ago, the average age of a person killed in Jackson was around 33 years old.

The average age now is 29.

 

Author’s note: an earlier version of this analysis ranked Louisville, Kentucky’s homicide rate fifth among the cities listed above, based on U.S. Census data. However, that governmental data did not reflect Louisville consolidating its borders with Jefferson County, resulting in a larger coverage area for its police force and larger population to analyze. The resulting homicide rate for Louisville is much lower.

Additionally, in March 2023, the Jackson Police Department supplied WLBT with information on additional homicides it had never disclosed publicly. Total numbers of homicides in 2022 and 2021 -- as well as Jackson’s 2022 homicide rate per capita -- have been adjusted to reflect that new information.