MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Police said they were shot by each other in a crowded downtown nightlife district of Alabama’s capital, killing two people, killing 12 people and injuring 12 people on a chaotic street scene trying to find out who started it.
The deaths included a 43-year-old woman identified by police as Shalanda Williams and a 17-year-old woman identified as Jeremiah Morris. Five of the injured were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, including a teenager, Montgomery police said.
No one was arrested Sunday afternoon as police sued the public for information and sorted it through a complex crime scene where multiple people were firing weapons at crowds shortly after the Tuskegee University Mohouse College rivalry football game ended.
“We’re going to do anything not just to arrest the person in charge, but to arrest anyone who knew what happened, who knew what was going on,” Montgomery Mayor Stephen Reid said at a press conference on Sunday. “We’re not just going to stop with the people who were pulling the trigger last night.”
The archer “didn’t take into account human life,” he said.
Police were reviewing surveillance video, interviewing witnesses and potential suspects, and trying to piece together the motivations behind why the shooting began.
Montgomery Police Chief James Gravoys was called in the ears of everyday patrol officers in downtown Montgomery, and was called what was described as a “mass shooting” that broke out near the Hank Williams Museum, the Rosa Parks Museum and Alabama State University.
The shooting began when someone targeted one of the 14 casualties and encouraged multiple people to pull their weapons and start fighting back, Gravoys said.
“This was basically two people shooting each other in the middle of the crowd,” Gravoys said.
The shooter “didn’t care about the people around them when they did it,” he said.
Of the 14 victims, seven were under the age of 20, and the youngest was 16, Gravoys said. At least two casualties were armed, Graboy said.
Multiple weapons and shell cases have been recovered from the scene, Gravoys said.
There were few other details.
It was a particularly busy weekend in Montgomery. That day, a homecoming football game at Alabama State University’s Hornet Stadium, an ongoing Alabama National Fair at Garrett Coliseum and a game between Tuskegee University Mohhaus College ended at the nearby Crumun Bowl.
Reed said there was a police patrol within 50 feet (15 meters) when the shooting broke out. One officer arrived at the scene and transported the victim to hospital before the ambulance arrived, Gravoys said.
