Today marks three weeks since Birmingham police say multiple gunmen unleashed more than 100 rounds – including automatic gunfire – on a long line of people waiting to get into Hush lounge on Magnolia Avenue in Southside.

The gunfire erupted just after 11 p.m. that Saturday, killing Carlos McCain, 27, Roderick Lynn Patterson Jr., 26, Anitra Holloman, 21, and Tahj Booker, 27. Seventeen others – believed to be innocent bystanders – were injured, their wounds ranging from superficial to critical.

No arrests have been made.

Holloman’s mother, Candance Kemp, said she is frustrated with the lack of communication from police.

Holloman was a single mother whose longtime boyfriend was shot to death two years ago. She was in college studying to become a teacher and worked as a tax preparer for her family’s business.

“I haven’t heard from (police) since they told me my child was killed,’’ Kemp said. “I don’t even know how the investigation is going.”

“It’s still just as strong as it was from day one,’’ Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said of the investigation on Friday. “There’s probably more people focusing on the investigation now than there was in the beginning.”

“Any information we would release at this point in time could jeopardize the investigation,’’ Thurmond said. “There’s a lot of progress that’s been made.”

“It just takes time to get evidence tested and information back from subpoenas, talking to witnesses, talking to people of interest, gathering all that together,’’ he said. “It just takes time.”

Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr said it is important that the investigation is thorough.

“There’s so many moving parts, so many different aspects of the scene and connecting the evidence,’’ he said. “The key to it is getting enough information to ultimately not just charge folks but be able to hold them accountable. That’s the goal.”

“I’m confident that at some point we’ll get there,’’ Carr said.

“At the end of the day, accountability is what’s more important,’’ Carr said. “I know people want information from the Birmingham Police Department, but it’s imperative that they cross their t’s and dot their I’s.”

A reward of $100,000 remains in place. More than 200 tips have been submitted to Crime Stoppers and Birmingham police.

‘Birmingham is just murder after murder’

The Five Points South mass shooting is the third time in 2024 city detectives have investigated a quadruple homicide. Of the three this year, arrests have been made in only one.

Four people were killed and nine others injured in a July 13 drive-by shooting at an adult birthday party in north Birmingham. No charges have been filed.

As of Friday, Birmingham has had 130 homicides this year. The deadliest year in recent city history was 2022, which had 144 homicides. The all-time record was 148 in 1933 — a time when the city had a much larger population.

In the shooting outside Hush lounge, police have said that they believed the barrage of gunfire was a “hit” – a murder-for-hire targeting at least one of the men killed in the shooting.

Two of the victims, McCain and Patterson, both were charged in past Birmingham homicides.

McCain was acquitted of murder and attempted murder in 2017 in the shooting death of 15-year-old Kelvon Julius, who police said was killed in retaliation for another shooting in 2015. A young woman was also wounded in the gunfire that killed Kelvon.

Kelvon’s slaying happened June 4, 2016, on 12th Street South. A second suspect pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Patterson was previously charged with murder in the 2021 shooting of 20-year-old Dentarius Maurice Jackson, who was gunned down at the gas pumps at the Chevron on First Ave. North.

In 2022, the murder charge against Patterson was dismissed at the request of prosecutors citing “death, unavailability, and non-cooperation of witnesses.”

“There could be multiple motives for the one individual we believe was targeted. Others could have been targeted,’’ Thurmond previously said. “We’re still looking into that.”

“Some of the individuals killed have extensive criminal histories and because of that, there’s often motivation from others, and there’s people willing to pay to have them killed,’’ the chief said.

Court records show no criminal histories for Holloman and Booker.

Some, if not all, of the victims were out that Saturday night celebrating Jackson-Olin High School’s alumni events, which included a picnic earlier that day.

McCain, who graduated from Jackson-Olin High School in 2015, was known to his friends as “Los” and “Lil Carlos.”

“Carlos was a vibrant little boy that was full of energy. Carlos loved to dress from head to toe and step out on the scene to shine like the rare diamond he was,’’ according to his obituary.”

“He was a fearless, strong Warrior,’’ the obituary read. “Carlos was kind-hearted, and he had the best sense of humor. Los was known to many as a gentle giant with a beautiful soul.”

McCain’s funeral was held Sept. 28, one week to the day after the mass shooting.

Patterson’s funeral was held in Fairfield Oct. 1. He grew up playing youth athletics – baseball and football – in the western area.

Both Booker and Holloman had separate funerals on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Booker, family members say, protected Holloman when the shots rang out.

“To know my brother is to love him,’’ his brother, Jerome Booker, posted on Facebook the day after the shooting. “Everybody who know Tahj always knew he will protect anybody around him.”

“After them shots stopped, all I heard was my brother calling my name asking is I’m OK,’’ he wrote. “Whole time he got the girl ReRe (Holloman) in his arms on top of her like he shield her because I know how he is in that situation.”

“Then he said, ‘I’m shot,’ so I grabbed him off her and I seen my brother take his last breath,’’ he wrote.

Kemp, Holloman’s mother, said the past three weeks have been a struggle.

“This is a very sad situation for our whole family,’’ Kemp said. “Anitra was everything to our family.”

“She was like the other mother,’’ she said. “I’m always working, trying to take care of the kids so Anitra was my right-hand man who handled the family while I was gone. She did grocery shopping, the decorating.”

“This has been the most depressing thing for me,’’ she said.

Kemp recently attended a meeting of What About Us, a Birmingham-based nonprofit that provides support services for those who have experience the loss of a child through gun violence.

The group was started by Sheree Kennon who lost her son, 27-year-old Detraio Deshawn Whorton, to gun violence on Feb. 25, 2021.

“I can’t work. I don’t eat. I don’t sleep,’’ Kemp said. “I’m just at a loss.”

She said an arrest is important to her.

“I want justice,’’ she said. “Birmingham is just murder after murder after murder.”

“I don’t want retaliation shootings,’’ she said. “I want to be able to go in that courtroom for every court date. I want them to be arrested, tried and put in jail for the rest of their lives for killing my daughter.”