In Birmingham, 2022 was another year stained with blood. With a spree of holiday homicides, the city is set to close off one of the most violent years in recent history.
A Monday morning shooting on Jefferson Avenue took the life of an adult male and injured an adult female and a teenager. According to reports, another person was shot that evening on Carson Road.
There have been at least seven homicides since December 18 alone. The Carson Road shooting marked the city’s 144th homicide of the year.
With three days remaining, 2022 is already the city’s deadliest year in the past few decades. The last time Birmingham homicides numbered above 130 in a single year was in the early 1990s.
Birmingham homicides have been on the rise since 2018. In 2020, there were 122 homicides, followed by 132 in 2021.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has been vocal about his city’s issues over the last few weeks. Last week, he addressed the city about the murder of 12-year-old Audrianna Pearson. Pearson is one of several children who fell victim to violent crime this year.
Woodfin complained about how the federal government was not doing enough to limit the right to bear arms. He insisted that, if given the opportunity, he would restrict the “sale, access and ease” of firearms in Birmingham.
Citing the five female children who fell victim to violent crime in the city this year, Woodfin took to Twitter on Tuesday to urge citizens to handle their conflict without violence.
“I don’t care who y’all beefin’ with, or whoever your ‘opps’ are, we owe it to our daughters and nieces to handle conflicts differently,” Woodfin Tweeted.
On Monday, he said most of the recent shootings have been on “private property behind closed doors” and insinuated the acts resulted from a conflict between individuals who knew each other.
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