4 Killed in Shooting Near University of Alabama at Birmingham

Gunmen shot into a group of people in a popular entertainment district in what appeared to be a targeted attack, the police said. The authorities are still looking for the shooters.

Gunmen opened fire in a popular entertainment district in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday night, killing four people and wounding at least 18 others, in what appeared to be a targeted attack, the police said. The authorities said they were still looking for the shooters.

The police responded to calls about a shooting in the Five Points South area just after 11 p.m., Truman Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Birmingham Police Department, said at a news conference. Two men and one woman were found dead at the scene, he said, while another man died at a nearby hospital.

The police believe the person whom the gunmen were targeting was among those killed, Scott Thurmond, the city’s police chief, said at a news conference on Sunday morning. He said the shooters appeared to use a fully automatic weapon. They approached the scene in a vehicle, got out, opened fire and then fled in the vehicle.

Other victims “were caught in the crossfire,” Mr. Fitzgerald said in a statement on Sunday morning.

At least four of the injured victims suffered life-threatening wounds, Mr. Fitzgerald said. All the victims were standing on the sidewalk or in the street, he said.

Four injured victims, in conditions ranging from good to critical, were still being treated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital on Sunday morning, said Alicia Rohan, a spokeswoman for the university. The hospital had treated 12 victims, including one person who died.

The Five Points South area is home to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s main campus and is the location of many bars and restaurants.

Charlea Smith, 26, was finishing up her shift as a receptionist at the nearby Hotel Indigo when she heard gunshots. As she left the hotel, she saw chaos: people running, sirens blaring, police officers everywhere.

Ms. Smith said she used to feel safe in Five Points South, which is regularly patrolled by both university and city police officers. But now she’s anxious about going to work every day. As she headed to her shift Sunday morning, she saw blood on the sidewalk and on restaurant windows on the block where the shooting occurred.

Saturday’s attack came after four people were killed and nine injured in another shooting in Birmingham in July. The police said that in that episode, they believed at least one person fired shots into a nightclub in North Birmingham. That shooting remains unsolved.

In February, four people were killed in a shooting outside a family home in the city. A 21-year-old man is facing a capital murder charge in that shooting.

Speaking at the news conference, the city’s mayor, Randall Woodfin, described Birmingham as experiencing some of the worst consequences of an “epidemic” of gun violence in the United States.

“I tell people: When America gets a cold, it’s possible that Birmingham gets the flu,” he said.