Officials plead for leads on shooting, announce reward

ALABAMA

A firefighter cleans blood stains off the sidewalk outside of a nightclub in Birmingham, Ala., on Sunday after a mass shooting that killed four and wounded over a dozen others. KIM CHANDLER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Kim Chandler and Safiyah Riddle

The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. >> Officials in Birmingham, Alabama, pleaded Monday with members of the public for information leading to arrests in a weekend mass shooting that killed four people and injured more than a dozen others, announcing rewards totaling $100,000.

“We have a laser-like focus on hunting down, finding and capturing and making an arrest that leads to a conviction for those responsible for killing and shooting so many people, especially so many innocent people,” Mayor Randall Woodfin told The Associated Press Monday .

Authorities have still made no arrests after Saturday’s shooting killed four people and left 17 others injured. Police said multiple shooters opened fire on a crowd waiting in line outside a nightspot in Birmingham’s bustling Five Points South district. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said they believe the shooters were targeting at least one of the victims in a possible “hit” and that bystanders were caught in the barrage of bullets.

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward, and Crime Stoppers is offering $50,000, officials said. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Police identified the three victims found on the sidewalk as Anitra Holloman, 21, of the Birmingham suburb of Bessemer; Tahj Booker, 27, of Birmingham; and Carlos McCain, 27, of Birmingham. The fourth victim was identified Monday as Roderick Lynn Patterson Jr., 26.

Tahj Booker was out with his cousin celebrating his high school alumni week on Saturday night when he was killed, said Booker’s aunt Sheila Everson. Her son, Ra’Darrius Everson, 29, is one of five people still being treated for gun shot wounds in the hospital.

Before Booker was killed on Saturday night, Everson said that he was like a “teddy bear” who loved taking care of his cousin Ra’Darrius’ two young daughters, aged two and six.

The family is not new to gun violence, Everson said. She said she had another nephew shot and killed in Birmingham 2017. As she anxiously waits for her son to receive medical treatment for his wounds, Everson said her family is strongly considering leaving Birmingham altogether to escape the constant fear of guns.

“They took two of my nephews. I’ll be damned if I let them take three. So we — my family — we have to get up out of here,” Everson said. She added, “It’s sad to say that, because for me, we were told when I was young that Birmingham was a retirement state, but now Birmingham is like Chicago or Iraq, you know. We’re in a war zone. It’s killing women and kids and innocent people now.”

The shooting — Birmingham’s third quadruple homicide of the year — has put a spotlight on a city once best known for its role in the Civil Rights Movement but more recently plagued by gun violence.