Mobile police are searching for a gunman who shot one man and fired into an unoccupied car during an argument at a Midtown apartment complex Wednesday night.
Officers with the Mobile Police Department responded to the South of Dauphin Apartments at about 8:30 p.m. in reference to a shooting. According to MPD, the victim had been in an argument with a woman before an unidentified man shot him and fired into an unoccupied vehicle nearby.
The victim suffered what police described as a minor gunshot wound and was taken to a local hospital by personal vehicle rather than by ambulance — a detail investigators say can complicate the first steps of a shooting case, because the scene where the victim was treated is separate from the scene where the shots were fired.
An Argument That Turned Into Gunfire
The sequence MPD described is a familiar one in Mobile’s shooting statistics: a verbal dispute that escalates until someone produces a gun. In this case, the victim’s argument was with a woman, but it was a second person — a man whose identity has not been released — who fired the shots. In addition to wounding the victim, gunfire struck an unoccupied car, turning a person-versus-person assault into a case that also endangered everyone within range of the rounds.
MPD is treating the case as first-degree assault, the felony classification Alabama law applies to shootings that cause serious physical injury — and, in practice, to many cases where the injuries are still being evaluated. The classification can change as evidence develops.
The Search for the Shooter
No arrest had been announced as of Thursday, and police have not released a description of the suspect. Investigators will be working from witness statements, surveillance video from the complex and the surrounding blocks, and shell casings recovered at the scene, which can be checked against databases of firearms used in other crimes.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and are asking anyone who saw the argument, heard the shots or noticed anyone leaving the area around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to come forward. Even partial information — a clothing description, a direction of travel, a vehicle type — can help detectives piece together the sequence.
How to Help
Anyone with knowledge of the incident can contact the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can still provide tips, and in cases where no arrest has been made, community information is often the difference between an unsolved shooting and an arrest.
Police also note that taking a shooting victim to the hospital privately, while understandable in the moment, should be followed immediately by a call to 911 so officers can respond to both the hospital and the scene while evidence is fresh.