Alabama Attorney General And Montgomery Mayor At Odds Over Mass Shooting

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed are at odds after a mass shooting in Montgomery left two people dead and 12 seriously injured. 

According to AL, the shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday in Montgomery’s downtown entertainment district,  while the area was highly populated as Tuskegee University played Morehouse College, Alabama State played its homecoming game, and the Alabama State Fair was also underway. 

Jeremiah Morris, 17, and Shalanda Williams, 43, were killed in the shooting, Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys told reporters. Five of the victims have life-threatening gunshot wounds, with the other seven sustaining non-life-threatening injuries. Seven of the victims were under 20 years old, with the youngest being 16. 

“This started as the result of an individual, one of these 14 (injured or killed), who we believe was targeted, in which basically an exchange of gunfire erupted,” Graboys told reporters.

“When that exchange erupted, multiple people in the crowd pulled their own weapons and started discharging,” Graboys added. “Now, as you can imagine, that can be a very chaotic situation, and every weapon has to be accounted for and every piece of evidence has to be processed.” Authorities are still looking for the person responsible for the shooting. 

Shortly after the Montgomery mass shooting, Marshall issued a statement saying city officials weren’t doing enough to address crime in the city. “Though the blame lies with those who carelessly pulled the triggers, I continue to be troubled by the city leadership’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge that they have a serious problem,” Marshall said.

Marshall is currently running for the U.S. Senate and added that Montgomery officials aren’t willing to admit the city is dealing with a crime crisis. At a news conference about the Montgomery mass shooting, Mayor Reed pushed back against Marshall’s criticism. 

“If the attorney general ever wants to talk with me about what we’re doing, I’d be more than happy to sit with him, and I’ll go to him, tell him exactly what we’ve been doing,” Reed said. “But I don’t need anybody lecturing me about crime … I don’t need that type of sideline commentary from the state’s top law enforcement official.”

Reed added that he still believes Downtown Montgomery is safe “I don’t think that downtown Montgomery is unsafe,” the mayor said. “Let me be very clear about that. I think we have some reckless and careless people who did something very stupid last night that cost two people their lives and multiple people impacts on their lives.”

Despite the mass shooting, violent crime is trending downward in Montgomery. So far, the city has had 52 homicides this year, down from 61 in 2024 and 75 in 2023. That still hasn’t stopped Alabama Republicans from suggesting the National Guard should be deployed. 

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has previously suggested the National Guard be deployed to Montgomery and Birmingham. Morgan Murphy, a former Trump official running for U.S. Senate in Alabama, told 1819 News, “We need the National Guard in Montgomery to restore long-awaited law and order.”

Mayor Reed also pushed back against those calls for federal troops to be deployed. “I’m fervently against that 100%,” Reed said. “That’s not the place for our National Guard.”

“The place is with local law enforcement who understand what to do and when to do it and how to do it,” the mayor said. Instead of deploying the National Guard, Reed suggested that the state revisit a law that repealed the requirement of a permit to carry a concealed handgun. 

For people so intent on “restoring law and order,” you think they’d want to place some kind of limit on who can carry a concealed weapon. I love that Republicans are more willing to deploy troops on American soil than make common-sense adjustments to gun laws. It’s genuinely crazy work, y’all.

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