One man is dead and another critically injured after it appears they shot each other in an Ensley neighborhood Monday afternoon.

The exchange of gunfire is believed to have started with a domestic argument between the slain man and his girlfriend. It escalated into an exchange of gunfire with a third person.

The shooting happened at 4:35 p.m. in the 1500 block of 52nd Street in Ensley in the Central Park neighborhood.

“Officers were on the scene within seconds,’’ said Officer Truman Fitzgerald. “We had some officers nearby.”

The arrived to find two males wounded outside of house.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced one man dead on the scene. The second wounded person – possibly a juvenile – was rushed to UAB Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Fitzgerald said it appears the man who died had been involved in a domestic argument, possibly with his girlfriend.

“We’re being told by several sources that he may have pulled out a gun during that domestic argument and he and the second gunshot victim were involved in a shootout with one another,’’ he said.

The surviving victim was either a friend or family member of the girlfriend, Fitzgerald said.

Shot Spotter registered at least 10 rounds exchanged between the two males.

Detectives were canvassing the neighborhood and speaking to witnesses, but Fitzgerald said it appear the situation was contained.

The shootout happened just one block off busy Bessemer Road, near Central Park Chevron. There were multiple children playing outside in that community when the gunfire erupted.

“It’s frustrating,’’ Fitzgerald said. “Here you have a domestic argument where possibly someone chose to pull out a firearm and then shots were exchanged.”

“That’s been a common theme these past few days,’’ he said. “Arguments are being chosen to be resolved with guns, lives are lost, and people end up in the Jefferson County Jail because of it.”

The victim is Birmingham’s 12th homicide so far in 2025.

This weekend, there were three homicides in just under 24 hours.

Willie Robert Morgan, 55, of Birmingham, was shot to death on an Interstate 59 off-ramp following a dispute over a fender bend just before 2 p.m. Saturday.

A 22-year-old man was shot to death about midnight in Ensley, and an 18-year-old Birmingham City Schools student was killed about 20 minutes later on Saturday in north Birmingham.

In all of Jefferson County this year, there have been 17 homicides, including the 12 in Birmingham.

Anyone with information in any of the cases is asked to call detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.