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Woman killed in hail of gunfire on Facebook live video after brawl at Birmingham apartment complex

A large fight in the parking lot of an east Birmingham apartment complex ended in a deadly shooting that was captured live in Facebook videos.

The fight broke out at Monarch Ridge apartments on Gallant Drive, formerly known as Valley Brook.

Birmingham Homicide Aug. 20, 2024

The video showed the victim in a brawl that involved multiple people. It appeared to start by a vehicle in the parking lot and then moved to a breezeway in one of the apartment buildings and continued before a hail of gunfire erupted.

Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said East Precinct officers were dispatched to the complex about 10 p.m. Tuesday. The initial calls were of shots fired, and then officers were updated that someone had been shot.

When they arrived at the location, they found the victim – the mother of a young daughter – unresponsive in or near the parking lot. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced her dead on the scene.

The victim had posted her own live video from the apartment complex parking lot shortly before the fight and gunfire erupted.

After the shooting, the heartbreaking cries of the victim’s brother and sister could be heard on the videos.

A second victim – a male – was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Wade said investigators learned that after the fight moved to the breezeway, it appeared to have been broken up. Moments later, the shots rang out.

Initially police said 36 shell casings were recovered but that number grew – as much as tripled – as the investigation continued. The shell casings were in two clusters in adjacent areas in the parking lot.

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Videos depicted even more shots fired, and witnesses contend it sounded like hundreds.

After the shooting, someone fled in the female victim’s Ford sedan. That, too, was captured on video.

It wasn’t immediately clear if it had still been running when she got out of it, or how they had access to it.

The stolen vehicle was found abandoned and in the parking lot of J Wings on Center Point Parkway.

Birmingham Homicide Aug. 20, 2024

A woman was shot to death Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, following a fight in the parking lot of Monarch Ridge apartments. Her car was stolen but later recovered.(Carol Robinson)

No arrests have been made.

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