Man shot dead by Birmingham police officer responding to disturbance call in Forest Park

A man was shot dead by a Birmingham police officer on Monday evening during a disturbance call in Birmingham’s Forest Park neighborhood.

A South Precinct officer was dispatched to the 700 block of 34th Street South shortly after 8:30 p.m. for a disturbance call, located just off Clairmont Avenue in the parking lot of a residential building.

Police Chief Scott Thurmond said when the officer arrived at the scene, an altercation ensued and the officer fired an unknown number of shots, seriously injuring the man.

The man was taken to UAB Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Thurmond said investigators are still trying to determine the man’s identity.

No officers were injured in the incident.

When asked if the man was armed, the police chief said: “That is something we are investigating. There is a possibility that that is the case – that is one of the things we have heard so far.”

The police chief said authorities were still trying to reconstruct the circumstances that led to the call to police.

“The investigation is still in its early stages,” he said, “so it is difficult for us to know all the facts.”

Three young men sat on a curb outside the 700-apartment building while officers brought them water. Thurmond said there were several civilian witnesses to the fatal shooting.

He said officers also searched the area to see if any residents had witnessed the incident.

It appears, Thurmond said, that only one officer fired shots. That officer, who is on leave under department regulations, was wearing a working body camera.

The State Bureau of Investigation will lead the investigation into the shooting, which is standard procedure for police-involved shootings.

The last fatal police shooting in Birmingham occurred in February 2022, when 27-year-old Keleen Rashad Connell was killed in the 4300 block of Morris Avenue in the Avondale neighborhood. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office found the shooting justified.

“No officer wants to be involved in a situation like this, so our officers work hard to determine if there are ways to de-escalate or if there is another solution to the problem,” Thurmond said.

“Unfortunately, sometimes officers are forced into situations where there is no other choice, and that appears to have been the case tonight.”