A 17-year-old is fighting for his life after gunmen in a dark-colored sedan pulled alongside a car near 17th Street North and 26th Avenue North and opened fire just after 2 a.m. on May 24, leaving the teen with life-threatening injuries and a second victim with wounds described as non-life-threatening. Months later, Birmingham police still have not identified a suspect, and investigators are now turning to the public for help cracking the case.
Officers Found a Bullet-Riddled Car After a Crash
According to WBRC, Birmingham police arrived near the intersection in North Birmingham's 35204 ZIP code just after 2 a.m. on May 24 and found a vehicle that had been in both a shooting and a crash, its body riddled with multiple bullet strikes. That stretch sits close to the Acipco-Finley and Norwood communities, according to Realtor.com, and falls under the patrol jurisdiction of the Birmingham Police Department's North Precinct, headquartered at 2600 31st Avenue North.
Investigators recovered evidence from the road consistent with the shooting, the station's report states, and the 17-year-old victim is now receiving hospital care. Per the same account, an unknown vehicle approached the car carrying the teen and fired multiple shots into it before speeding off as a dark-colored sedan traveling on 17th Street North toward 25th Avenue North.
No Suspects Named as Investigation Continues
Birmingham police are continuing the shooting investigation and working to identify everyone involved, per the article. Officials are asking anyone with information to come forward, and tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.
The Birmingham Police Department Homicide Unit can be reached at 205-254-1764, while Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama can be reached at 205-254-7777. Crime Stoppers typically offers rewards up to $5,000 for anonymous tips leading to a felony arrest or warrant across eight Central Alabama counties, according to Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama. Because the victim is a minor, that reward could potentially be enhanced up to $25,000 through the city's Gun Violence Against Children Fund, a program Mayor Randall Woodfin established in 2021 with church donations, the organization notes on its enhanced-rewards page.
Why Some Witnesses Stay Silent
Crime Stoppers processes tips through an encrypted system that strips caller IDs, deletes IP addresses, and reroutes internet submissions outside the U.S. to protect tipster anonymity, the organization says — a safeguard meant to ease the kind of witness fear of retaliation that has long complicated drive-by shooting cases in Birmingham.
If suspects are eventually caught, they would face serious exposure under Alabama law. Discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle is a Class A felony under Alabama Code § 13A-11-61, carrying a potential sentence of 10 years to life and fines up to $60,000, according to Joe Ingram Law. Given the teen's life-threatening injuries, attempted murder could also apply; under Alabama Code §§ 13A-4-2 and 13A-6-2, that charge is likewise a Class A felony punishable by 10 to 99 years or life imprisonment, per FindLaw.
New State Law Could Keep Suspects Behind Bars Pretrial
Whoever is eventually charged would also face a tougher bail landscape than suspects did before this year. Under Alabama Amendment 1, approved by state voters in May 2026, judges now have explicit authority to deny bail outright to defendants charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle or with attempted murder, according to Ballotpedia.
The case lands amid a broader shift in Birmingham's violent crime numbers. The city recorded a 35.1% drop in homicides during the first half of 2026 compared to 2025, continuing a decline after 2024's historic peak of 152 homicides, per a report cited by WVTM 13. Non-fatal shooting victims have also fallen, dropping 40% from 262 wounded victims to 160 across three quarters of reporting, according to a separate account. Still, late-night drive-bys like the one that nearly killed a North Birmingham teen remain an ongoing concern even as the citywide trend improves.
Hoodline has covered other unsolved Birmingham cases in which police have turned to Crime Stoppers tips to crack cold trails, underscoring how central the anonymous tip line has become to the city's unsolved shooting investigations. For now, anyone with information on the dark sedan or the people inside it is urged to call the Homicide Unit or Crime Stoppers.
