Authorities have released the name of a young woman who was gunned down at a Birmingham convenience store in what police say was a targeted attack.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office identified the victim Wednesday morning as Janyia Marshae Thompson. She was 19 and lived in Birmingham.

The shots rang out just before 8 p.m. Tuesday as a group of people were standing outside the 10th Avenue Convenience & Smoke Shop the 4500 block of Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North.

A South Precinct officer working another call in the vicinity of the 4500 block of Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North heard multiple shots fired in the area. Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the city’s gunfire detection system – Shot Spotter – also indicated shots fired in the same area.

The officer went to investigate and went inside the store. That’s when Thompson was found unresponsive inside the store, and was pronounced dead on the scene at 8:13 p.m.

A second female was also found wounded but she is expected to survive.

Fitzgerald said a group of people was standing outside the store when an unknown suspect approached and fired multiple shots toward the group’s direction. Investigators believe Thompson was killed in a targeted attack.

“We’re working to learn why someone would target our victim,” Fitzgerald said, adding that multiple people in a crowd that formed following the shooting indicated the incident could be related to another shooting.

Police are trying to speak to the injured woman to assist the investigation.

“She’s distraught, and also we want to protect her as well because if this was a targeted event, who knows the seriousness of them coming back and targeting her,” said Fitzgerald.

The woman’s death is one of five that has happened in Birmingham over the past week, and one of two in just several hours. Earlier Wednesday, a man died from a stab wound on the west side.

So far this year, there have been 39 homicides in the city. Of those, one was an officer-involved shooting by an outside agency and three others have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.

At this time last year there had been 43 homicides in Birmingham.

In all of Jefferson County, there have been 53 homicides including the 39 in Birmingham. There were 52 homicides countywide this time in 2022.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.