1 person dead, at least eight others injured in shooting after Magic City Classic in Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – One person was killed and eight others were wounded in a mass shooting just outside Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, after the annual ‘Magic City Classic’ football game on Saturday night, police said.
Michael Pickett, chief of the Birmingham Police Department, said most spectators and families had left the stadium property after the game, but the shooting happened nearby, where vendors were set up along Graymont Avenue.
He said he was “very grateful that more people weren’t injured.”
The circumstances of the shooting were unclear.
Police spokesperson De’Rell Freeman said one person had been detained and transported to police headquarters for questioning, and “multiple weapons” had been found and secured.
Alabama State and Alabama A&M are historically Black universities and archrivals whose annual contest has been played for more than 100 years. Nearly 70,000 fans attended Saturday’s game, won by Alabama A&M 31-28. The event draws some of the largest crowds in the country for games played in their college football division.
The Magic City Classic has such a deep history that Alabama State coach Eddie Robinson Jr., a former NFL linebacker and alumnus of the school, proposed creating a Hall of Fame for the game.
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