The manhunt in Alabama for a suspect in a shooting that left four people dead and 17 injured outside a nightclub on Saturday night entered its second full day on Monday.
The Birmingham shooting was at least the 24th mass killing in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass killing as one in which four victims are killed or injured.
Such a high rate of mass killings has led to growing calls for stricter gun control in the United States, but these calls have been largely ignored by Congress.
Police officials said Saturday’s massacre occurred when multiple people pulled up in a vehicle outside a nightclub, jumped from the vehicle, opened fire and fled the scene.
Police said the shooting was not random and appeared to have been targeted at one of the four people killed, but the other victims were innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.
When police arrived on scene, they found two men and a woman lying on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
A second male shooting victim was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Authorities said Sunday that more than 100 shell casings were found in the area and that at least four of the 17 injured people had serious, life-threatening injuries.
One user on social media said he witnessed the shooting and was hit by a bullet while waiting in line outside Hush Lounge in the entertainment district.
“All of a sudden, over 100 gunshots rang out. I started running and suddenly I lost feeling in my legs and collapsed,” wrote the social media user in question. “I got up and turned around and saw bodies lying there and smoke everywhere.”
“The bullet entered my left butt cheek and exited through my thigh millimeters from my aorta.” The user praised the trauma team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital for the emergency treatment that followed, saying they did an “amazing job.”
According to CNN, police believe the gunmen in Saturday’s shooting used illegal gun-modifying devices. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says such devices “can turn a semi-automatic handgun or rifle into a fully automatic weapon in less than 60 seconds.”
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin addressed the victims and their families at a news conference Sunday, saying it was the community’s duty to “do everything we can to get these shooters and murderers off our streets.”
Noting that Saturday marked Birmingham’s second mass killing since July 13, Woodfin called on Alabama lawmakers to restrict access to high-powered assault weapons.
“Don’t tell me this is unsolvable. At the same time, don’t tell me this is something that only the police should solve,” Woodfin added.
“It is incumbent on elected officials at the local, state and national levels to solve this American crisis, this epidemic of gun violence.”
Birmingham police said they are working with federal authorities, including the ATF, in investigating Saturday’s shooting.