Man shot at gas station outside Walmart in Birmingham

A man was fatally shot Saturday afternoon at a gas station outside two busy shopping areas in east Birmingham.

Around 4:45 p.m., a man approached East Precinct officers and said he had just shot someone nearby at the Murphy USA near Walmart on Roebuck Plaza Drive.

Police rushed to the gas station and found the man unresponsive on the floor. Firefighters pronounced him dead at the scene.

Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said police received calls at 4:44 p.m. of an angry customer inside the store. Officers were being dispatched when the shooter appeared on the premises.

Then more calls started coming in reporting a physical altercation followed by shots being fired at the gas station.

The gunfire shattered the glass on the store’s door.

Wade said the man who was killed was not the store clerk. It was not immediately clear if the man killed was the irate customer or someone else who was there.

The man who fired the fatal shots is being questioned. Wade did not say if he works at the business.

“As I’ve stated before, people need to find another way to resolve conflict before they resort to gun violence and take a loved one from their family,” Wade said.

There were other customers in the store at the time, but no one else was injured.

The fatal shooting is the 92nd homicide in Birmingham this year. Of these, eight were found to be justifiable and are therefore not considered criminal.

There were 116 homicides in all of Jefferson County, including the 92 in Birmingham.