By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
This is another installment in Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series “Beyond the Violence: what can be done to address Birmingham’s rising homicide rate.” Sign up for the newsletter here.
More witnesses are coming forward to help the Birmingham Police Department (BPD) make arrests and close a “significant” number of homicide cases, but now is not the time to celebrate, as gun violence continues to increase in the city, BPD Chief Scott Thurmond said during a recent interview.
Police credit an “outpouring of assistance” from community members in obtaining arrests warrants for suspects in the shooting death of 21-year-old Asia Poole on Tuesday, August 20. A total of five suspects have been arrested in connection with the shooting after the fifth was taken into custody Wednesday and fourth to be charged with murder.
In another case this month, with the help of a witness, police were able to arrest a suspect in a seven-year-old homicide case involving a 57-year-old woman who had been stabbed to death. Until recently, investigators didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest. That changed when a witness came forward, police said.
Thurmond, who is on the Crime Stoppers Board, said he sees “first-hand” the number of people providing tips that are leading to more arrests. Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama is a nonprofit that offers cash rewards for anonymous tips that help solve felony crimes and lead to arrests of persons wanted on warrants charging them with felony crimes.
“The number of cases that citizens have called about and the number of arrests that Crime Stoppers has been given information for law enforcement to make the arrests has increased dramatically this year,” the police chief said. “The clearance rate from where it was last year to where it is this year has increased significantly, which means we’re closing more cases by arrests.”
He added, “Citizens who get involved by calling Crime Stoppers can be 100 percent anonymous, get a reward, and help law enforcement get these individuals off the streets of Birmingham—and that’s what we want. … We want a safer Birmingham, too.”
According to BPD Officer Truman Fitzgerald homicide detectives “have made arrests in 44 cases” this year through Friday, August 23. Although it was unknown how many were a result of witnesses who came forward, Thurmond reiterated that the number was “significant.”
“Get Killers Off the Street”
Residents seem to be responding to pleas from city leaders to share information anonymously.
Three months ago, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called on residents to help police solve homicide cases.
“I need the public to help us take shooters and killers off the street who harm our most vulnerable community members, which are our children and our seniors,” Woodfin said in mid-May after a 62-year-old man in a wheelchair was killed and two children were injured in gun shootings. “That is my direct plea to the public: We need your assistance. If you need safe harbor or help in sharing that information, let us know so we can give it to you.”
While more arrests are being made with the help of witnesses, Thurmond said now is not the time to celebrate.
“The only way I would celebrate is if the number of murders in the city went down significantly,” he said. “We have to stop having homicides. … It’s still very frustrating when people are still losing their lives. … Yes, we’re making arrests, … we’re closing those cases, but people are still being killed and there are families that are still being destroyed. That’s the disturbing, … more troubling part to me.”
On August 13, a 61-year-old man became the city’s 100th homicide of 2024 when he was shot to death inside an apartment at the North Birmingham Homes public housing community, also known as Vice Hills. Last year, the city didn’t reach 100 slayings until October 3. So far in 2024, 108 people have been killed, including 8 justifiable death rulings.
Thurmond said he sees personally what impact violence can have when families visit BPD headquarters.
“We’ve got mothers saving voice mails because it’s the last time they ever heard their child’s voice, and they play it day after day. … That’s the only memory they have of them,” he said.
“It’s very disturbing when you see these mother’s faces, these family member faces, and you see what they’re going through, whether it’s the day after, six months, a year, two years later,” he continued. “They think about it when Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, special family days come. Whatever it is, that loved one is not there.”
Even if the department is closing more cases, Thurmond added, “It doesn’t fix your heart or your mind.”
“Senseless”
The interview with the police chief took place one day after a fight at an apartment complex in Birmingham escalated into a shooting that left 21-year-old Asia Poole dead and a man injured. Authorities said it was all captured on videos posted to Facebook, which showed Poole in a brawl involving multiple people at the Monarch Ridge Apartments, according to Al.com.
The altercation appeared to start near a vehicle in the parking lot and then moved to a breezeway in one of the apartment buildings and continued before gunfire erupted.
“The reason we see people getting murdered in our city is just senseless,” Thurmond said. “Look at the [Poole] homicide. The young lady, she’s 21 years old, and another female are engaged in a physical altercation. Somehow that turns into gunfire. [Poole] is dead, another [person] is shot. [Poole] had a 1-year-old that now has no mother. … This is senseless.”
Police said they documented 168 rounds fired in that shooting, according to AL.com. Residents and witnesses described the shooting as “something out of a movie” and said it appeared to be premeditated. There were multiple shooters, they said, some wearing masks and armed with assault-type rifles and guns with Glock switches. (A Glock switch, according to the GunZone.com, is “a device used to modify a Glock pistol to allow for automatic firing.”)
The mentality of some perpetrators is totally different than most, Thurmond said.
“Killing someone is not a big deal for them,” the police chief said, “Talk to the guys on the street now about having a gun, [and they say things like], ‘Well, I have to have a gun because everybody else has a gun, so I have to level-up.’ … ‘If I didn’t carry a gun, they all have guns. I may be a great fist fighter, but that’s not going to stop bullets.’ … ‘I have to get the biggest, baddest gun I can because a lot of other people have the biggest, baddest guns.’”
In addition to making arrests, the challenge for police is to determine “the root cause” behind the gun violence, Thurmond said.
“Is there something that the police or some group can do to get out in front and stop that thing from occurring? … It’s just disturbing that these simple little things are leading to people losing their lives. As a law enforcement leader, it makes you want to beat your head against wall,” said Thurmond.
Anyone with information about a homicide incident is asked to call homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Your call will be anonymous, and you could receive a reward.
