The victims are believed to have been targeted, according to investigators.
A drive-by shooting in Birmingham claimed the lives of four men, leaving their community devastated and in search of answers as violence escalates across the city.
On Feb. 16, Cortez Ray, 32, Talton Tait, 36, Terrell Edwards, 38, and Kevin McGhee, 38, were standing outside of a neighborhood car wash in Smithfield when shots began to ring through the air, according to AL News.
“I heard the gunshots and kind of ran,” said Jimone Griffin, one of the victim’s mothers. “I turned around, and they were still shooting.” Griffin revealed that she had just finished having lunch with her son, Tait, when the fatal attack began. She recalls the moment she realized that her son had been killed. “I was just pacing. I didn’t want to come back over here because I knew.”
Tait, along with Ray and Edwards, was pronounced dead at the scene. McGhee died at UAB Hospital shortly after. The victims had been childhood friends and, according to investigators, were targeted. This incident was one of seven shooting homicides in Birmingham in just 24 hours, according to USA Today.
Birmingham Police Department Chief Scott Thurmond also published a statement. “Our city has been rocked to its core by today’s events,” he wrote. “Our city and communities are hurting beyond belief. Our citizens and the City of Birmingham deserve better. The Birmingham Police Department will work tirelessly to solve these murders as well as many others that remain unsolved.”
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Source: Black Enterprise
