Victims of mass murder in Alabama may have been victims of a contract killing, police say

Some of the four people killed in a fatal shooting in Alabama had “extensive criminal” histories and may have been killed in a “cowardly” contract killing, authorities said Monday.

Gunshots were fired on Saturday evening when a “large group of people” gathered outside the Hush Lounge in Birmingham, Alabama’s second-largest city, authorities there said.

Authorities said several gunmen drove up in a vehicle, got out and opened fire before getting back into the vehicle and fleeing.

An early theory in this case is that these shooters may have been paid to kill specific people.

“Some of the people killed have a long criminal history,” Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond told reporters. “And so the motives are often different and there are people willing to pay to have them killed. And that’s part of it.”

The four dead were among the 21 people shot.

By Monday morning, 12 of the 17 injured had left the hospital, officials said.

Authorities are offering a $100,000 reward ($50,000 from the FBI and $50,000 from Crime Stoppers) for information that could lead to the case being successful.

Many of those killed were “collateral damage” in the attack on specific targets, Thurmond added.

“You often see people in a line who are most likely unarmed, because when you go into a club you are not allowed to have a weapon on you,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. “As heinous as this was, it was also one of the most cowardly things we have ever seen. These are cowards.”

The four people killed were all Alabama residents: Anitra Holloman, 21, Tahj Booker, 27, Carlos McCain, 27, and Roderick Lynn Patterson Jr., 26.

Holloman is from Bessemer and the other three are from Birmingham, officials said.

In early 2018, McCain was acquitted of murder and attempted murder charges stemming from the killing of a teenager in 2016.