By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
This is another part of the joint series from Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 “Beyond the violence: What can be done about Birmingham’s rising murder rate?” Sign up for the newsletter Here.
More and more witnesses are coming forward to help the Birmingham Police Department (BPD) make arrests and solve a “significant” number of murder cases. But now is not the time to celebrate as gun violence in the city continues to rise, BPD Chief Scott Thurmond said in a recent interview.
Police credit a “huge amount of help” from community members with obtaining arrest warrants for the suspects in the shooting death of 21-year-old Asia Poole on Tuesday, August 20. In total, five suspects have been arrested in connection with the shooting, after the fifth was taken into custody on Wednesday and the fourth was charged with murder.
In another case this month, police, with the help of a witness, were able to arrest a suspect in a seven-year-old murder case involving a 57-year-old woman who had been stabbed to death. Until recently, investigators did not have enough evidence to make an arrest. That changed when a witness came forward, police said.
Thurmond, who sits on the board of Crime Stoppers, said he sees “firsthand” how many people provide tips that lead to more arrests. Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama is a nonprofit organization that offers cash rewards for anonymous tips that help solve crimes and lead to the arrest of people wanted on felony warrants.
“The number of cases that citizens have called about and the number of arrests that Crime Stoppers has received information about so that law enforcement can make arrests has increased dramatically this year,” the police chief said. “The clearance rate has increased significantly compared to last year, which means we are closing more cases through arrests.”
He added: “Citizens who get involved by calling Crime Stoppers can remain 100 percent anonymous, receive a reward and help law enforcement get these individuals off the streets of Birmingham – and that’s what we want. … We also want a safer Birmingham.”
According to BPD Officer Truman Fitzgerald, homicide detectives have made “44 arrests” this year through Friday, August 23. Although it is not known how many of those are based on witness statements, Thurmond reiterated that the number is “significant.”
“Get murderers off the streets”
Residents appear to be responding to city leaders’ requests to share information anonymously.
Three months ago, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called on citizens to help police solve murder cases.
“I need the public’s help to take shooters and killers off the streets who are harming our most vulnerable community members, our children and seniors,” Woodfin said in mid-May after a 62-year-old man in a wheelchair was killed and two children were injured in gun attacks. “This is my direct appeal to the public: We need your support. If you need a safe haven or help sharing this information, let us know so we can give it to you.”
Although witness testimony leads to further arrests, Thurmond says this is not the time to celebrate.
“I would just be happy if the number of murders in the city dropped significantly,” he said. “We need to stop committing murders. … It’s still very frustrating when people lose their lives. … Yes, we’re making arrests, … we’re closing these cases, but people are still being killed and there are still families being destroyed. That’s the disturbing, … more disturbing part for me.”
On August 13, a 61-year-old man was shot to death in an apartment in the North Birmingham Homes public housing development, also known as Vice Hills, marking the city’s 100th murder in 2024. Last year, the city only reached the 100-murder mark on October 3. So far in 2024, 108 people have been killed, including 8 death sentences that were justified.
Thurmond said he personally sees the impact violence can have when families go to the Borderline Personality Disorder Center.
“We have mothers who save voicemails because it’s the last time they 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 the faces of these mothers, the faces of these family members, and you see what they’re going through, whether it’s the day after, six months, a year, two years later,” he continued. “You think about it when Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, special family days come around. Whatever it is, that loved one is not there.”
Even if the department closes more cases, Thurmond adds, “It doesn’t heal your heart or your mind.”
“Pointless”
The police chief’s interview came a day after a fight at a Birmingham apartment complex 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 that showed Poole in a brawl with several people at the Monarch Ridge Apartments, Al.com reports.
The altercation apparently began near a vehicle in the parking lot, then moved to a passageway in one of the apartment buildings and continued before shots were fired.
“The reason people are murdered in our city is just senseless,” Thurmond said. “Look at the murder (in Poole). The young lady, she’s 21 years old, and another woman are involved in a physical altercation. Somehow that ends with gunfire. (Poole) is dead, another (person) was shot. (Poole) had a one-year-old child who now has no mother. … It’s senseless.”
According to AL.com, police documented 168 shots fired in the shooting. Residents and witnesses described the shooting as “like something out of a movie” and said it appeared to be premeditated. There were multiple shooters, they said, some masked and armed with assault rifles and pistols with Glock switches. (A Glock switch is “a device used to modify a Glock pistol so that it can fire automatically,” according to GunZone.com.)
The mentality of some perpetrators is completely different from that of most others, Thurmond said.
“Killing someone is no big deal to them,” the police chief said. “If you talk to people on the street about guns today, they say things like, ‘I have to have a gun because everyone else has a gun, so I have to improve.’ … ‘If I didn’t have a gun, they all would. I may be a great pugilist, but that doesn’t stop bullets.’ … ‘I have to have the biggest, baddest gun I can get 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” of gun violence, Thurmond said.
“Is there anything the police or any other group can do to stop this from happening? … It’s just disturbing that these simple little things are causing people to lose their lives. As a head of law enforcement, you just want to bang your head against the wall,” Thurmond said.
Anyone with information on a homicide case is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Your call is anonymous and you could receive a reward.