A man was shot to death in broad daylight Friday in a crowded Birmingham public housing facility.
The shooting happened just after noon in the 3000 block of 32nd Avenue North. That is just inside the main entrance at the Collegeville complex.
Officer Truman Fitzgerald said North Precinct officers arrived to find the man on the sidewalk. He had been shot multiple times.
Residents reported hearing a barrage of gunfire and some said they got down on the floors of their homes.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue began to take the victim to UAB Hospital, but the 33-year-old died during transport.
Fitzgerald said the preliminary investigation indicates the gunman approached the victim and opened fire, seemingly without provocation.
“From everything we’ve gathered from speaking with witnesses outside, it was unprovoked,’’ Fitzgerald said. “He walked up to the victim, shot him and fled the scene.”
A man was shot to death Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Birmingham’s Collegeville public housing community.(Carol Robinson)
Authorities could not immediately confirm whether the victim worked or lived in Collegeville, or if he knew the suspect.
“The scene today was unprovoked,’’ Fitzgerald said. “There was no argument. There was no confrontation. The suspect was on a mission.”
“This was a crowded area,’’ he said, “and the suspect had no regard for anyone else.’’
No arrests have been made.
Fitzgerald said the Birmingham Housing Authority’s investment in surveillance cameras is expected to be crucial in the probe. Also, the police department’s Real Time Crime Center was able to quickly generate leads for the Detective Bureau.
“But we cannot stress enough,’’ he said, “if you have any information in this shooting, please we encourage you to reach out.”
The deadly shooting comes just over a month after a woman was killed and a man injured in a shooting at the same complex.
The victim is Birmingham’s 113th homicide this year. Of those, eight have been ruled justifiable and two happened in previous years and died in 2024.
In all of Jefferson County, there have been 145 homicides including the 113 in Birmingham.
Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
