More than 150 shots fired on Birmingham’s busy 3rd Avenue West leave one dead and six injured; “It was chaotic”

More than 150 shots were fired outside a shop in west Birmingham early Sunday, leaving one man dead and six others injured.

The shooting was one of two shootings in Alabama overnight that resulted in deaths and several injuries. One person was killed and three others were injured in Tuscaloosa County.

Police identified the victim as David Isaiah Westbrook, 24, of Wartrace, Tennessee.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday, North and West District officers first received shotgun alerts in the 700 block and 800 block of Third Avenue West. The location is in the always busy area around Shell, Burger King, Auto Zone and Express Oil Change and Tire Engineers.

When officers arrived at the scene in the 700 block of Third Avenue West in front of Auto Zone, they found a sedan that had crashed into a utility pole. They found an unresponsive adult male in that vehicle.

The Birmingham Fire Department determined he was dead in the car.

The scene was chaotic, police said, and as officers tried to resolve the incident, they learned that several vehicles had been struck by gunfire and at least one nearby business – Boston Fish Supreme.

The 911 dispatcher began notifying officers that multiple gunshot victims were showing up at area hospitals.

BFRS transported a person found unresponsive in the Shell station parking lot to UAB Hospital. His injuries were life-threatening, Officer Truman Fitzgerald said.

Two men arrived at Princeton Baptist Medical Center in a private vehicle. Her gunshot wounds are not believed to be life-threatening.

Two other wounded people also showed up at the emergency room at UAB Hospital. Her injuries are also not life-threatening.

Then, around 10:30 a.m., police were notified that another victim showed up injured in Princeton. His injuries are not life-threatening.

Fitzgerald said detectives and officers believe the majority of the shootings occurred at Shell. Blood and several bullet casings were found in the parking lot there.

Officers taking part in Operation Knight Rider – a task force targeting exhibition rides and street racing – were working in the area and responded to the scene.

A group of Knight Rider officers arrested a potential suspect near the crime scene when he was seen with a weapon. A second Knight Rider team took another armed and running man into custody.

The second person was arrested closer to Fourth Court West, Fitzgerald said.

“They were throwing weapons,” he said.

“We are still working to determine what triggered the shooting,” Fitzgerald said.

“We don’t know how many shooters,” he said. “We know this area is always busy and it’s a festive weekend – Cinco de Mayo – and we just think people were out because it was a nice Saturday night and something happened that caused it to happen 150 shots were fired.”

Fitzgerald said they believe there were multiple shooters.

Just two years ago – on April 25, 2022 – a similar shooting occurred at the same location, in which more than 100 shots were also fired.

One person was killed – 19-year-old Davion Hickley – and three others were injured.

Brighton police and Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies later attended Hickley’s funeral after receiving word that someone wanted to “attack” the church where the funeral was held on April 30, 2022 at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church . A Birmingham man was arrested after authorities said he tried to run over police officers guarding Hickley’s funeral.

Just a few weeks ago, Fitzgerald and other police officers met Hickley’s mother at One Heart in the Park, an event to commemorate crime victims.

“This scene hurts,” Fitzgerald said, talking about meeting Hickley’s mother. “After getting to know them and seeing how the shooting affected them, here we are, two years late, in the exact same scenario, and here is another family struggling with loss because of the chaos in the 800 block of a loved one is struggling on Third Avenue West.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

This story was updated at 11 a.m. after police were notified that a seventh shooting victim had shown up at a Birmingham hospital.