The City of Birmingham is suing the owners and operators of the Shell station on Third Avenue West and an adjacent business after a weekend shooting in the parking lot left one man dead and six others injured.

More than 150 bullets were unleashed in the predawn incident on Sunday.

City Attorney Nicole King filed the complaint against the owners of 3rd Avenue Ventures, LLC, and Express Mart of AL, LLC for Shell and Boston Fish Supreme which is next to the Shell.

A city press release calls the properties a “launching pad for criminal activity,” including drug activity and violence.

Efforts to obtain comment from those businesses were not immediately successful late Monday night.

In the past year alone, city officials say, Birmingham police have responded to the area for theft, kidnapping, assault, drugs, dangerous exhibition driving and more.

In addition to the deadly shooting there Sunday morning, which police described as chaotic, another young man – Davion Hickley – was killed April 25, 2022, in a similar shooting happened in the same location, also with more than 100 shots fired.

And in one of the most horrific cases, 43-year-old Genise Carter was beaten and kidnapped from the Shell on Jan. 25 in front of store employees and multiple witnesses in the gas station parking lot yet no one, police have previously testified in court, stopped the attack.

Only one person called 911, and police arrived but did not find anything.

Carter’s body was later found on a dead-end street, nude except for a pair of socks. She had been shot in the head.

Two men have been charged with capital murder.

The city contends more than 50 calls were received by Birmingham police concerning the properties in the past month.

The press release mentions Carter’s kidnapping and eventual murder, as well as the Sunday predawn shooting which left 24-year-old David Isaiah Westbrook dead, and six others between the ages of 19 and 26 wounded.

The complaint states “neighboring residents are in serious risk of suffering immediate and irreparable harm.”

“I have instructed the city attorney to take steps to deal with the public safety concerns at this location,” said Mayor Randall Woodfin.

“Our small businesses are the backbone of our city, but when they do not provide a basic commitment to protecting their premises, they jeopardize the well-being of their businesses and the public.”

“Local businessowners must be accountable for the activity on their property, specifically properties that have been constant sites of illegal disruption,’’ the mayor said.

In the court filing, an affidavit from Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr states the “properties have been at the center of numerous shootings, altercations and other felony assaults.”

Carr’s affidavit also states the owners of the properties appear “unwilling to take the necessary steps to stop criminal activity from occurring on the premises.”

Police Chief Scott Thurmond held a press conference earlier Monday to talk about the weekend shooting.

The Shell station is a popular hang out on the weekends, and has long been a trouble spot, Thurmond said. One YouTube video from a different weekend shows numerous people packed in the parking lot, listening to music, and waiving around guns.

Thurmond on Monday said detectives reviewed video surveillance footage from there during the Sunday shooting and it showed multiple people with guns shooting.

“A review of the video surveillance showed numerous individuals shooting randomly as if they were just firing their guns. Most did not know who or what they were shooting at, which caused the victims to be shot,’’ Thurmond said.

“We’ve seen this there before unfortunately,’’ he said. “We have people just firing indiscriminately.”

“They don’t know who they’re shooting at, what they’re shooting at, they’re just firing rounds from their guns,’’ the chief said. “That causes a lot of danger to the people who are there which resulted in these people being shot. They’re just shooting rounds all over the place.”

“This was, ‘I just heard shots and I’ve got my gun so I’m going to shoot so I can get some shots in for bragging rights,’’’ Thurmond said.

The city’s filing requests the court declare the properties a public nuisance and require the properties to take the necessary steps to eliminate criminal activity. The complaint asks the court to allow the city to demolish the properties if the defendants do not comply.

In the spring of 2020, King created the Office of the City Attorney’s Drug and Nuisance Abatement Team, also known as DNAT, which works through the courts to hold landowners accountable for keeping their properties clean and getting rid of crime and blight associated with nuisance issues.

More than 120 properties have received demand for corrective action. DNAT continues to investigate other properties.

DNAT works closely with the Birmingham Police Department to identify areas where landlords are not taking care of properties or providing inadequate security, according to the news release.

Problems with drug and nuisance properties can be reported via email to [email protected] or residents can call the internal Drug and Nuisance Abatement Team at 205-254-2369 during normal business hours.