50-year-old man dies after being shot multiple times on west Jefferson County road
Updated 12:02 PM;
A 50-year-old man has died following a shooting late Thursday night in western Jefferson County.
Sheriff’s deputies responded at 10:30 p.m. to Valley Road near Fairfield Boulevard on a report of someone shot. When they arrived, they found the victim still inside his 2015 Honda Accord.
The vehicle, said Sgt. Joni Money, was at a standstill and blocking a lane of traffic. The victim had been shot multiple times.
He was taken to UAB Hospital where he was pronounced dead Saturday.
The victim is the 56th homicide in all of Jefferson County so far in 2021, and his wounding happened just hours after Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway held separate press conferences denouncing escalating gun violence.
‘A true miracle’: Youngest Birmingham park shooting victim makes everyone laugh, smile, mom says
Updated Apr 09, 11:59 AM;
Posted Apr 09, 11:55 AM
Justice Holness, 5, is recovering after he was one of six people shot in Birmingham s Patton Park. (Contributed)
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Justice Holness, 5, was one of six people shot when someone opened fire inside the park on Easter night. Areyelle Yarbough, 32, was killed. Her funeral with be held Saturday with the eulogy to be delivered by her father, the Rev. Michael Yarbrough.
The other victims, ages 21, 17, 16 and 15, are continuing to recover as well.
“He’s making everyone smile and laugh,’ Amaryllis Holness said Friday of her son. “He’s a true miracle.”
Birmingham police chief discusses policing during pandemic
Smith on crime By Bria Chatman | February 8, 2021 at 9:55 PM CST - Updated February 8 at 9:55 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - From budget cuts to recruitment, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith says policing throughout this pandemic hasn’t been easy for the city’s police department.
“A constant state of adjustments,” says Smith. “Where we adjust to the pandemic. We adjust to the protest. We adjust to the budget cuts. We adjust to a number of things. The way we do roll calls. We changed the way we respond to calls.”
As businesses closed and people started working from home, the work for law enforcement never stopped. Chief Smith says the department has resources available to help officers navigate during these stressful times.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) The Birmingham mayor and police chief are asking the public for help after the city saw more than 100 homicides in 2020 with more than half of those remaining unsolved.
Mayor Randall Woodfin and Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith made the appeal in a news conference Wednesday. They asked for people to come forward with information about unsolved cases and the community’s assistance in helping young people understand ways to resolve conflict without picking up a gun.
In addition to coronavirus pandemic, the mayor said the city also had a crisis of gun violence in 2020. The mayor said the city had 105 homicides that were classified as murders this year, up from 93 in 2019.
“Our hearts go out to the families. But the truth is the families deserve more than our heart and prayers. They deserve justice,” Woodfin said.
The mayor said “detective after detective” say they believe they know who killed the victims, but they can’t make an arrest without witnesses being willing to talk.
Woodfin recalled his own brother’s murder in 2012 and how the killer was convicted only because a woman came forward. He recalled seeing the witness shaking as she testified at trial, but “through her fear, she pushed on for justice.”
“If she had not come forward to testify, my brother’s case would still be unsolved today,” Woodfin said.