Police suspect a “Glock trigger” was used in the mass shooting that left four people dead and 18 others injured outside an Alabama cigar bar.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday night, shots were fired in the Five Points South entertainment district, just outside the Hush hookah and cigar lounge in Birmingham, injuring at least 22 people.
Two men and a woman were killed at the scene in the 2000 block of Magnolia Avenue, near the University of Alabama, while a fourth male victim died at the hospital.
An additional 18 shooting victims were identified, with injuries ranging from non-life-threatening to life-threatening, and were treated at local hospitals.
Birmingham police said WVTM They suspect the shooter used a Glock trigger switch to convert the firearm into an automatic weapon.
Police suspect a ‘Glock trigger’ was used in the mass shooting that killed four people and injured 18 others outside an Alabama cigar lounge
‘Glock switches’ (pictured) are modifications that convert handguns into fully automatic weapons
‘Glock switches’ or ‘automatic switches’ are modifications that allow handguns to become fully automatic.
The use of automatic weapons is on the rise, nearly 100 years after Congress passed a law designed to keep automatic weapons out of the hands of criminals.
They are small, only about the size of a quarter, and can be easily mounted to Glock handguns. Similar devices are available for other brands, but are less common.
They allow pistols to fire continuously with a single trigger pull.
They cost around $50 and are readily available. They can be purchased on websites and imported or increasingly domestically produced on a 3D printer.
“These types of switches make a whole class of weapons extremely lethal,” said retired ATF agent David Chipman. “These are really targeted at criminal and extremist buyers and owners.”
Police suspect multiple shooters are responsible for the horrific mass shooting
Two men and a woman were killed at the scene in the 2000 block of Magnolia Avenue, near the University of Alabama, while a fourth male victim died at the hospital
Police suspect multiple shooters are responsible for the horrific mass shooting, but no suspects had been arrested as of Sunday morning.
It is believed that this was not a random shooting but an isolated incident with multiple victims caught in the crossfire.
“Glock switches are the single greatest public safety problem in our city and state. While illegal under federal law, there is no state law that makes Glock switches illegal,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said Sunday.
“Every mayor, police chief, sheriff and district attorney I know wants to see Glock switches banned. Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that fires every round in a matter of seconds has no place on our domestic streets.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the ATF worked with Birmingham’s police chief and mayor to launch “Operation Flip the Switch,” a program to get Glock switches off the streets, the local news station reported.
“Where we used to see a dozen or less casings at a crime scene, we’re now seeing 75 to 100 or even over 100 at a crime scene. And that’s because, as you’re going to see in a moment, these casings are being fired rapidly from these types of weapons,” said Police Chief Scott Thurmond.
“The damage that can be done very quickly by these weapons. As the ATF just said, there is no place for these things in our city, in our state, or in our country.”