Alabama Bar Mass Shooting That Killed Four, Injured 17 Others Likely Targeted ‘Hit’ Job, Police Say

Police believe the mass shooting outside a popular Alabama bar that killed four and injured 17 may have been a murder-for-hire "hit” job — and the manhunt for the shooters continues.

Around 11 p.m. on Sept. 21, police responded to a popular hookah bar in Birmingham’s busy Five Points South entertainment district, where “multiple people were shot with possibly multiple casualties,” authorities said.

According to law enforcement officials, the incident could be the result of a targeted ‘hit’ after multiple shooters were seen jumping out of a vehicle, opening fire and then fleeing.

“We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person," Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said at a press conference.

Three of the victims — Anitra Holloman, 21; Carlos McCain, 27; and Tahj Booker, 27 — were pronounced dead at the scene after authorities found them on a sidewalk with gunshot wounds.

The fourth victim, who has not been named publicly, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Police did not indicate which victim investigators believe was the apparent intended target.

Since Sunday, scores of victims have showed up at various hospitals in the area, some life-threatening.

At the scene, detectives recovered around 100 shell casings.

Investigators are not sure what weapons were used during the shooting, but they believe some of the gunfire was “fully automatic,” Chief Thurmond said.

Authorities are also working to determine whether or not anyone in the crowd fired back at the shooters, creating crossfire.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said the focus right now should be finding the suspects.

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In a statement, Woodfin said, “The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets.”

The mayor expressed frustration at what he described as an epidemic of gun violence in the wake of the latest bloodshed. “We find ourselves in 2024, where gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country," he said, noting, "And the city of Birmingham, unfortunately, finds itself at the tip of that spear."