Gunfire erupted in a Birmingham parking lot early Friday, leaving two men dead and woman with life-threatening injuries.

The shooting happened where a large crowd was gathered in parking lots and around food trucks parked outside Platinum nightclub.

Just after 1 a.m., a North Precinct officer was in the area of the 800 block of Second Avenue North when the officer heard shots fired. Shot Spotter, the city’s gunfire detection system, also indicated multiple rounds fired, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

The officer was flagged down by people who told him someone was shot in the parking lot of Washer and Refrigeration Supply Company. That is when he saw a man unresponsive in the parking lot.

More people told the officer there was another person shot, and the officer found an adult female who had sustained gunshot wounds. She was still alive and taken to UAB Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

A third victim, an adult male, was also found in the parking lot. He, too, was unresponsive.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced both men dead on the scene.

Fitzgerald said it appears the shots were all fired in that parking lot. Multiple shell cases were found near the victims.

He said he didn’t know the exact number of shots fired, but said the total was in the double digits.

Multiple vehicles were hit by the gunfire, as was Washer and Refrigeration Supply Company.

“Right now, we’re working to piece together what led to the shots being fired,’’ Fitzgerald said.

Nearly two hours after the deadly shootings, there were still 70 to 100 people out in the area. Fitzgerald said there were probably more when the shooting actually happened.

“We need those people to come forward and give us information,’’ he said.

The double homicide comes just one month after two women were killed, and three other people injured, in the early-morning hours of Labor Day when they, too, were out at a Birmingham nightclub.

“The saddest thing is you have two more community members who were shot and killed a month after we lost two community members who were killed when they were going out on Labor Day,’’ Fitzgerald said.

“Going out in Birmingham shouldn’t be a death sentence,’’ he said.

“We need our community to help send the message if you come into our city and inflict violence, we’re going to do what we need to do to bring people to justice and that starts with people coming forward,’’ he said.

“Those men and women have to come forward and tell us what they know so we can get these people off the street. This is third and fourth victims who have lost their lives in a month simply by going out in our city.”

The deadly shooting marks the city’s 101st and 102nd homicide of 2023. Of those, one was an officer-involved shooting by an outside law enforcement agency and seven others have been ruled justifiable.

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