One dead, eight wounded after Birmingham football game shooting

One person was killed and eight others were wounded in a shooting near Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, after the Magic City Classic football game Saturday night, police said. The gunfire broke out along Graymont Avenue, where vendors had set up near the stadium.

Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett said most spectators and families had already left the stadium property when the shooting occurred. Nearly 70,000 fans had attended the game between Alabama State and Alabama A&M, two historically Black universities whose annual football rivalry dates back more than a century.

The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear. Police spokesperson De’Rell Freeman said one person had been detained and taken to police headquarters for questioning. Officers also found and secured “multiple weapons,” Freeman said. Police did not say what role, if any, the detained person or the weapons had in the shooting.

Pickett called the shooting a “completely senseless act of violence” and said he was “very grateful that more people weren’t injured.”

“This is something that we not only just see here in Birmingham, but we see it all over the nation,” he said. “And it’s important that we, as a community, address this issue.”

The Magic City Classic draws large crowds to Birmingham each year. Alabama A&M won Saturday’s game 31-28. Pickett said the scale of the event places heavy demands on police and that other law enforcement leaders had offered assistance.

“Everyone knows this is the largest event we have here in the city and it’s extremely taxing on our personnel,” Pickett said. “Other leaders in law enforcement recognize that and they quickly offered up support and we are grateful for that quick response.”

The game’s long history has prompted Alabama State coach Eddie Robinson Jr., a former NFL linebacker and alumnus of the school, to propose creating a Hall of Fame for the contest, CBS News reported.

The Birmingham shooting was among several violent incidents over Halloween weekend, according to CBS News. In Dallas, three shootings occurred within minutes of one another in the downtown Deep Ellum neighborhood, killing four people and injuring five others, CBS News Texas reported.

In Newark, Delaware, six people were shot near the University of Delaware campus shortly after 11:10 p.m. Saturday, Newark police Lt. Greg D’Elia said, according to CBS News. All six were taken to hospitals for treatment. CBS News reported that video shared on social media showed people running from the scene and that a stretch of Main Street was closed for several hours afterward.