By james art 
Birmingham, Ala. (AP) – Officials in Birmingham, Alabama, pleaded on Monday with members of the public for information leading to arrests in mass shooting over the weekend, which killed four people and wounded more than a dozen others, declaring awards for a total value of 100 000 dollars.
“We have a laser focus on hunting, finding and capturing and arrested that leads to a sentence for persons responsible for killing and shooting so many people, especially so many innocent people,” Mayor Randal Woodfin told the Associated Press on Monday S
Authorities have not yet arranged arrests after the shooting on Saturday killed four people and left 17 other injured. Police said numerous shooters had opened fire on a crowd, waiting in front of a night point in the lively five points of Birmingham, southern region. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said they believe that shooters were aimed at at least one of the victims at a possible “hit” and that observers were caught in the bullets.
The FBI is offering a $ 50,000 award and crime stops offering $ 50,000, employees said. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
Police identify the three victims found on the sidewalk as an 21 -year -old Anitra Holoman from the Birmingham suburbs of Besemer; Tahj Booker, 27, by Birmingham; and Carlos McCain, 27, from Birmingham. The fourth victim was identified on Monday as Roderick Lin Patterson, Jr., 26 years old.
Tahj Booker was out with his cousin, celebrating his high school week on Saturday night when he was killed, said Booker Sheila Everson’s aunt. Her son, Ra’driy Everson, 29, is one of the five people who are still treated with wounds with a gun at the hospital.
Before Booker was killed on Saturday night, Everson said he was like a “teddy bear” who liked to take care of his two young daughters as his cousin Ra’darius, two and six years old.
The family is not new to arms violence, Everson said. She said she had another nephew and was killed in Birmingham in 2017. While she is eagerly waiting for her son to receive medical treatment for his wounds, Everson said her family is considering leaving Birmingham completely to escape the constant fear from weapons.
“They took two of my nephews. I’ll be cursed if I let them take three. So we – my family – we have to get out of here, “Everson said. She added: “It’s sad to say that because they told us when I was young, Birmingham is a retirement condition, but now Birmingham is like Chicago or Iraq, you know. We are in a war zone. He now kills women and children and innocent people. “
Shooting – The Third Four Murder of the Year in Birmingham – put a spotlight on a city that was once the most famous for its role in the civil rights movement, but more recently tortured by violence with a gun.
Three of the country’s 31 mass murders this year have occurred in Birmingham, according to a database supported by the Associated Press and the USA Today in partnership with the Northeast University. Birmingham, a city with about 200,000, has seen 114 murders this year. Chicago, with more than 10 times the population, saw just over 400 murders this year.
“I think America has a problem with the culture of weapons. I think when you bring it to the south, it’s even more common, “Woodfin said on Monday.
He said that two things that have changed in recent years are the types of weapons and the spread of devices, sometimes known as Glock switches that convert semi-automatic weapons into faster fire.
Police said about 100 shell shells were restored at the scene of Saturday firing. The number of bullets and audio fired, which caught the rapid pace of shots, made the authorities believe that weapons used as automation, Woodfin said. While the conversion devices that accelerate the shooting of semi -automatic weapons are prohibited under the federal law, he has called on the state MPs to ban them and this move that will help local law enforcement authorities to break down on certain weapons.
The Mayor of Birmingham also called on state and federal officials to give cities more instruments to deal with weapons. He put both hands behind him during a press conference on Sunday as a metaphor of what is for cities to fight crime.
Woodfin, a gun owner, said he believes that people have the right to defend themselves and their homes, but he said weapons made to shoot as automatic bullets for spraying, everywhere, “producing more victims and more people shot dead “.
Udfin, who lost his brother and nephew to a weapon violence several years ago, said his calls to the victims’ families remind him of his mother’s screams when she learned that his brother had been killed.
“These are not easy calls. This is not an easy conversation. This gives me the motivation to come up with a way to solve this so that more mothers do not grieve. “Woodfin said.
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This story is corrected to show that there are 31 mass murders in the country this year, not 23 mass shootings.