19-year-old dead after wounded in hail of gunfire near downtown Birmingham
One of two men wounded when someone opened fire on their vehicle near a Birmingham intersection has died.
The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office on Monday identified the victim as Nigel Riddick Roberson. He was 19 and lived in Birmingham.
The shooting happened at 3:40 p.m. Saturday in the 900 block of Fifth Avenue North near the Chevron gas station, just off I-65.
Officer Truman Fitzgerald said police arrived to find two men wounded inside a vehicle that had stopped in the roadway.
Roberson was in the passenger’s seat. Once police were on the scene, Roberson rolled out of the vehicle and onto the ground.
At least 17 shots hit the vehicle, shattering the rear window, and leaving the car riddled with bullets.
Roberson was taken to UAB Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:58 p.m. Sunday.
Roberson was one of two men fatally shot Saturday in the city. A 24-year-old man was killed during a shootout on the Birmingham’s east side.
“Today has been an extremely violent day in our city,’’ Fitzgerald said on Saturday. “Many of these shootings have been targeted.”
No arrests have been announced.
Roberson is Birmingham’s 125th homicide this year. Of those, one was an officer-involved shooting by an outside law enforcement agency and eight others have been ruled justifiable and aren’t deemed criminal.
In all of Jefferson County, there have been 174 homicides, including the 125 in Birmingham.
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.