“We must be outraged”

At least seven times in the past 11 days, bullets fired in the Birmingham metro area have hit, or narrowly missed, children.

These violent incidents include four children shot — one of whom was crushed by bullets. One child was injured by broken glass from the gunfire, and two others narrowly avoided injury as bullets flew around them.

The culture of violence seems to be on the rise, authorities say, and it’s something no one should have to get used to.

“We have to be outraged by every shooting,” said Bob Copus, executive director of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama.

“It’s absolutely devastating for them,” Copus said. “It changes their lives and changes their level of security. It leaves a hole in their heart, it really does.”

“What we’re seeing is that the criminal element has no regard for any life that’s in the vicinity of who they’re after,” said Birmingham Police Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

“No case brings it home more than the Michael Coleman case where you have a 62-year-old man who was wheelchair bound and someone fired shots knowing he was there and in a wheelchair,” Fitzgerald said.

“You add that to the kids that were shot on Mother’s Day,” he said, “and it just shows you that the criminal element has no regard for human life.”

“Caught in the Crossfire”

A 10-year-old boy was walking with his mother in East Lake Park Wednesday night when he felt pain in his arm and his mother realized he had been shot.

Police called to the 8100 block of 4th Avenue North just after 6 p.m. found the boy was being cared for by parents at a nearby youth sports practice.

The boy was taken to Children’s of Alabama and has since been released.

Detectives returned to the park Thursday morning looking for evidence and witnesses, but no major leads have yet developed.

Just 24 hours earlier, Birmingham police received reports that a 4-year-old boy had been shot while riding in a vehicle with an adult. The child appeared at Baptist Princeton Medical Center and was transferred to Children’s of Alabama.

Fitzgerald said Thursday that police learned the child was actually injured by broken glass when shots were fired into the vehicle.

The investigation found that the shooting in the 4700 block of Avenue R resulted from a confrontation between the adult the child was traveling with and another adult.

Three children were also shot on Mother’s Day, two of them in Birmingham and one in Center Point.

The first happened just before 2 p.m. that Sunday in the 1500 block of Cullman Avenue. Officers found a man seriously injured, and he was transported to UAB Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Minutes later — at 2:08 p.m. — a second victim showed up at the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Station 16 on Avenue I in Ensley. The victim was the man’s 11-year-old son, who also suffered serious injuries but is recovering.

The victims were either in a vehicle or had just arrived in a vehicle when the suspect or suspects opened fire on them. At least 25 shots were fired.

“We believe one of the victims was targeted,” Fitzgerald said.

No arrests have been made.

Then, around 9 p.m., several Shot Spotter alerts came in from the Marks Village public housing community in Birmingham’s Gate City community. In total, more than 60 gunshots were detected.

An 8-year-old girl showed up in a private vehicle to the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Station 12 on First Avenue North. She was taken to Children’s of Alabama, where she was treated for two lacerations and released.

No arrests have been made.

Also that Sunday, a 14-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital after being shot in the Center Point area.

Center Point Fire medics and Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 2400 block of Fifth Street NW just after 10 p.m.

The boy suffered multiple gunshot wounds, at least one to the side.

Sheriff’s officials said they are looking into the possibility that the child was accidentally shot by a relative, but have not released updates in the case.

Two other children in the past two weeks were in the immediate line of fire but escaped being shot.

Six days ago – Friday night – 25-year-old Gabriel Bester was killed when someone fired shots into his vehicle. A woman was critically injured by the gunfire and her daughter was injured in the impact of a subsequent crash that ended with the vehicle in a pond in Greenwood Park near Coosa Street.

No arrests have been made.

Thursday morning in Bessemer, a 7-year-old child was present when shots rang out at a Fairfax Avenue home, injuring the child’s mother and another man.

The initial 911 call stated the child had been abducted, but Bessemer police said it was unclear if the child ran away from the home when the fire broke out.

“A lot of times, our children are innocently caught in the crossfire because of an action by an adult they were with, or adults in a confrontation, and the child had nothing to do with it,” says Fitzgerald .

“We have too many incidents of adults putting innocent children and the elderly at risk,” he said. “Whether it’s the personal issues we get into or the criminal activity we choose to engage in, we’ve seen where those actions have led to innocent children and the elderly caught in the crossfire.”

Fitzgerald said police have seen time and time again that people in the community often know what’s going on.

They are willing to talk about it among themselves, but reluctant to pass this information on to the police.

“We’re extremely grateful (when) our community speaks up, and we’re extremely grateful that they’re speaking up,” he said. “However, in order for the investigation to proceed, this information must be provided to us.”

“You have to say something”

Copus said a more holistic approach to fighting crime is needed. Arresting the suspects won’t stop the violence, but it does bring accountability, he said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind when these people pull the trigger 70 times, they’re not thinking about going to jail,” he said. “We have to make sure it’s on their mind.”

“People on the street saw him doing it. They know who he is,” Copus said. “But they don’t want to get involved. They’re afraid to get involved.”

“We’re trying to make the community safe, and the way to do that is to participate,” he said. “A police car driving down the street will not stop crime. The people who live there are the ones who can help. (A shooter) has to know somebody is going to turn him in.”

Crime Stoppers offers up to $5,000 in reward money for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest in most crimes, but there is also a special fund aimed at increasing the amount of money offered in cases where the victims are children.

The Violence Against Children Fund was created in 2021 when Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin launched a call for action after six children under 10 were shot in the first six months of the year.

Those six children included 2-year-old Major Turner, who died on February 5, 2021, just hours after someone riddled his Kimbrough Homes apartment with gunfire, hitting both Major and and his pregnant mother.

“That fund is still available right now,” Copus said Thursday. “When you know something, you have to say something.”

Crime Stoppers closed April as a record month, paying out $13,250 in tips received, Copus said. These tips led to 32 arrests and the clearing of 99 cases of crimes including murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, rape and drug trafficking.

“We’re trending that way so far this month,” he said. “People call Crime Stoppers and it works.”

“We have to stop shooting these kids,” Copus said. “Think what it does to them and their families for the rest of their lives.”