It was one year ago today that the lives of Selton Phillips and Arielle Taylor were forever changed.

The young couple was driving down Birmingham’s Parkway East when someone opened fire on their vehicle.

When the bullets stopped, Phillips had been hit five times and was paralyzed from the chest down. Taylor was hit seven times, most of the bullets having exited Phillips’ body and then penetrating her body.

“It’s changed our lives tremendously,’’ Taylor said.

The shooting happened about 7:30 a.m. that Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

Taylor was driving Phillips to work at McDonald’s because Phillips’ mother was using his car.

“We were driving down the Parkway and we just heard shots,’’ Taylor said.

“My boyfriend said, ‘Bae, I’m shot.’ Then I noticed was shot too,’’ she said.

The gunfire came from the right side of the vehicle.

“We didn’t see who it was because that’s where the gunfire was coming from and we didn’t look that way,’’ Taylor said.

The wounded Taylor crashed the car. That’s where police and medics found them and rushed them both to UAB Hospital.

Taylor was shot five times in the arm, once in the chest and once in the stomach. She was hospitalized for three weeks.

Phillips suffered wounds to the stomach, back and groin. He spent almost four months in the hospital.

At the time of the shooting, Phillips was working two jobs – one at the restaurant and the other as his uncle’s caretaker. Taylor worked from home.

The couple, together for almost four years, were homebodies and rarely socialized with anybody besides family.

“We mostly hang with our family. I just can’t understand how this happened,’’ said Phillips’ mother, Bernadette Phillips. “My son would leave one job and go to the next job.”

“I hate this happened to them because they were no trouble,’’ she said.

The couple said some good things have come from it – they are working to buy their first home through Habitat which will be accessible for those with disabilities.

But they want answers. Who did this? And why?

No arrests have been made.

“We haven’t talked to the detective since the hospital,’’ Taylor said.

Phillips said someone followed them from a Sonic restaurant the week prior to the shooting but again, they don’t know why.

“We think it was a case of mistaken identity,’’ Taylor said.

They believe multiple witnesses saw the shooting. Only one stopped to talk to police and the family, and they said a woman locs was involved.

“We just want to know if anybody saw anything,’’ Taylor said.

They remain fearful one year later.

“Are they still out there watching us?” Taylor said. “It’s scary and crazy.”

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