By james art One man was killed and a second wounded in a double shooting Wednesday night in southwest Birmingham, police said.
Just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, West Precinct officers received a call about a person shot in the 1700 block of Pearson Avenue SW, Officer Truman Fitzgerald said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find an elderly man suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, Fitzgerald said. Police then found a second man lying on the pavement with life-threatening injuries.
Community members were already assisting one of the victims when “our officers stepped in and took on life-saving duties,” Fitzgerald said.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue personnel responded to the scene and took both victims to UAB Hospital, where the man died from his life-threatening injuries.
The preliminary investigation revealed that everyone involved in the shooting knew each other, according to Fitzgerald.
“We believe this all stemmed from an argument between the deceased victim and a third adult male,” he said. “He was not shot in this case. … We believe all parties involved knew each other, so this is an incident where a suspect and victim or victims knew each other.”
An individual police officer, designated as a person of interest in the case, was taken into custody at the scene and will be questioned at Birmingham Police headquarters in the city centre.
That man’s involvement in the incident was still being determined by detectives as of Wednesday evening, Fitzgerald said.
“What we need from the public right now is if you have any additional information, we encourage you to call CrimeStoppers so you can get paid for your tips,” the officer said, adding that tipsters can remain anonymous .