Birmingham police investigate a shooting downtown on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025.Contributed
A man was shot while in his vehicle Thursday night in the middle of downtown Birmingham in a scene visited by the city’s mayor, interim police chief and the Jefferson County District Attorney.
Around 6:30 p.m. Monday, North Precinct officers received calls of multiple shots fired in and around the 2300 block of First Avenue North, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.
Officers arrived on the scene when they were flagged by community members who alerted them of an injured person shot who had been pulled into a nearby business.
Officers entered the business — which Fitzgerald declined to name so as not to expose the business owner to potential danger — to find a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service personnel arrived and took him to UAB Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Fitzgerald said officers hope to speak to the victim, who is in surgery.
“Right now, our detectives are reviewing surveillance footage from nearby business to see what took place that led to this shooting.”
Police are unsure whether the victim was targeted.
“We’re exploring different motives in this shooting,” Fitzgerald said. “However, we do not have a motive confirmed.”
Police believe the suspect was on foot when the man was shot inside his vehicle, which was wrecked on the corner of First Avenue North and 23rd Street North.
No suspects were in custody as of 9 p.m. Thursday, but since the shooting occurred in a heavily populated commercial area “those surveillance cameras will prove vital to this investigation,” Fitzgerald said.
Birmingham Interim Police Chief Michael Pickett, Mayor Randall Woodfin and Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr stopped by the scene but did not speak to reporters.
“Just where this took place,” Fitzgerald said when asked about the public officials’ appearance at the scene.
“Anytime you have something that happens in a downtown area, that’s your infrastructure in your city. And I think it just points to the location where we’re at. We have to as a city, we have to as a police department protect our infrastructure, which is always going to be your downtown areas.”
The officials’ presence showed that crime in the area is “not going to be tolerated,” Fitzgerald said.
“That’s why you saw the mayor out, that’s why you saw the police chief. Because if we don’t send a message that this is not going to happen in our infrastructure, what will that send a message to the outlining areas,” the officer said.
“If we can’t get these individuals to realize that you’re not going to come into our infrastructure and get away with it, that’s going to send a message that they can go anywhere in our city and do whatever they want.”
Fitzgerald commended the business owners who helped the victim.
“That speaks of the true Birmingham residents, that you have business owners that rendered aid to a gunshot victim, put themselves at harm to render aid,” he said.
Shelly Robinette and her friend, Susan Brunner, live in the area and were getting drinks at Pogo across the street when the gunfire erupted.
They counted about seven shots.
“People just kind of froze at that moment,” Robinette recalled, “and we looked at each other to try and determine ‘is that really what we heard?’”
Moments later, the friends heard police sirens racing to the scene.
Robinette said incidents like Thursday night’s shooting gives her pause about frequenting bars downtown, noting that she and her friends usually go out every Wednesday.
“I want to feel safe to step out of my building and to walk the block or two that it takes to go and see my friends and have fun, and that’s how everyone wants to be,” she said. “We just want to be safe.”
Added Brunner: “It needs to stop. It really needs to stop.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025).
© 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us).
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.
YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here.
Ad Choices
