(Alabama Reflector) — A shooting following a football game in Montgomery Saturday night left two dead and 12 injured, according to police.
The Montgomery Police Department said in a statement Sunday morning that the shooting took place at festivities following the Morehouse-Tuskegee Classic, a football game between two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) at the Cramton Bowl.
The injured included two juvenile males, including one with life-threatening injuries, the statement said.
“In total, three victims remain in life-threatening condition, and nine sustained non-life- threatening injuries. Detectives are actively pursuing leads and reviewing evidence, including witness statements and surveillance footage,” the release read.
A press conference was scheduled for noon on Sunday.
Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, condemned the violence on his Facebook page early Sunday morning.
“I am praying for all of the victims and their loved ones. Let us all hope for and work towards the day of conflict being resolved in a non-violent way,” Ensler wrote.
Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth also extended his prayers Sunday morning.
“Fourteen injured, two dead, and others clinging to life after a Saturday shooting in downtown Montgomery,” he wrote. “Local leaders must be willing to lead in order to stop the crime and violence.”
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said in July that violent crime in the capitol had decreased 28% in the first half of the year. Reed and the Montgomery City Council in July approved a youth curfew banning people 17 and younger in downtown Montgomery from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday, and from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Alabama had the fourth-highest firearm death rate in the nation in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at 25.6 deaths per 100,000. More people died by gunfire in Alabama that year than in New York State, which has nearly four times Alabama’s population.
Saturday’s mass shooting took place just over a year after a mass shooting in Birmingham left four people dead and 17 injured. Birmingham police said Glock switches – devices that effectively turn firearms into automatic weapons – played a role. The incident led to the Legislature last year passing a law making possession of Glock switches a state crime, which Ensler helped pass.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as new information is released.
