Eight minutes separated the two shootings that left nine people shot in the streets outside Legion Field after this year’s Magic City Classic.
Birmingham, Alabama police have charged a 17-year-old with murder and with possession of a machine gun conversion device in the gunfire that killed one man and wounded eight others near the stadium on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026. Police say more than one suspect was involved, and the investigation is continuing.
The man killed was Dre’Shawn Te’Verious Thomas, 19, of Birmingham, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said Monday, Nov. 2. He was pronounced dead at the scene on Graymont Avenue. Thomas, one of the nine people shot that night, graduated from A.H. Parker High School in 2026.
Grateful More People Weren’t Injured
Officers were called shortly after 7:50 p.m. to the 400 block of Graymont Avenue West, the stretch near the stadium where vendors had set up along the street. They found nine gunshot victims. The circumstances of the shooting were not clear.
Most spectators and families had already left the stadium property by the time the shots were fired, Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett said. He described the gunfire as a senseless act of violence. He said he was “very grateful that more people weren’t injured.”
One person was detained and driven to police headquarters for questioning, police spokesperson De’Rell Freeman said. Multiple firearms were recovered and secured at the scene. Police shut down the remaining tailgating in the area for the night.
No officers or first responders were hurt.
A Second Shooting Across the Street
What first looked like a single burst of violence turned out to be two. Mayor Randall Woodfin said Sunday, Nov. 1, that the shootings happened eight minutes apart, both before 8 p.m. the night before.
The first wounded six people outside the Legion Field perimeter and outside the Magic City Classic tailgate area, Woodfin said. The second came less than eight minutes later, across the street from the stadium in the Graymont Avenue area, and had three victims. A witness said she watched one of the victims fall during that second shooting.
Police said Sunday, Nov. 1, that one of the surviving victims was in critical condition and the other seven were stable. They ranged in age from 19 to 30.
The City Is Not Dropping the Classic
Woodfin said the shootings had nothing to do with the game, and that the city will keep supporting the event.
That event is the largest historically Black college and university football game in the country, a yearly meeting between Alabama A&M and Alabama State. Alabama A&M won this one 31-28 in front of about 70,000 fans.
Investigators are asking anyone with information or video of either shooting to call the Birmingham Police Department at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
“Birmingham City Schools is deeply saddened by the passing of Dre’Shawn Thomas, a 2026 graduate of A.H. Parker High School,” the district said.