A 25-year-old man is behind bars in connection with a weekend shooting at a Bessemer gas station that left three men dead.

The arrest was announced Tuesday during a press conference in which Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley addressed a bloody weekend in the city that saw 10 people shot, three of them fatally.

“I’ve been affiliated with the City of Bessemer for almost 30 years,’’ Gulley said, “and I have never seen a more violent, tragic weekend as I did this past weekend.”

“These victims are not just statistics,’’ the mayor said. “They’re our young men. They’re sons. They’re brothers. They’re grandsons. And their lives mattered.”

Willie B. Stokes III, of Bessemer, is charged with first-degree hindering prosecution.

Charging documents against Stokes allege he bought gasoline for capital murder suspect Raukeem Cunningham to set the suspect vehicle on fire.

He did so, records state, just before midnight Friday, shortly after Wesley Fowler Jr., 41, Christopher Eddins, 25 and Ronald Dixon Jr., 20, were fatally shot at the Citgo on Fourth Avenue North.

Stokes was booked into the Jefferson County Jail Monday night and remains held on $30,000.

Det. Justin Burmeister said police are still looking for at least two other possible suspects.

The shooting happened shortly after 11:30 p.m. Friday. Burmeister said the shooting started in the parking lot. The shooter or shooters followed at least some of the victims into the store and continued shooting.

A motive has not been disclosed.

On Monday night, four people were shot in a drive-by while attending a small vigil for the Friday night homicide victims. Initially police said three people were wounded, but on Tuesday said they learned a female had also been struck. None of those injuries were life-threatening.

On Sunday night, three men were shot while in the parking lot of a small strip of business on Ninth Avenue North. A gunman or gunmen approached their pickup truck and opened fire.

Police have said they don’t believe that shooting is connected to the two at Citgo.

Two of those victims remain in critical condition.

Gulley said the weekend violence left him with a heavy heart.

“To the perpetrators of these violent acts, you will be found, and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,’’ the mayor said. “We are committed to utilizing all of our available resources to fight this criminal element and give the victims and their families swift justice.”

“I implore everyone affected by these wicked and evil acts to dial back your emotions and take a moment to think about your choices and how they affect your family, friends and neighbors,’’ he said. “Retaliation is never the answer.”

“When we retaliate, we all lose,’’ he said. “It’s a vicious cycle that never stops. It will only deepen the wounds.”

Bessemer Police Chief Michael Wood said the department has deployed all of its available resources and reached out to county, state and federal law enforcement for assistance.

“Our condolences go out to families,’’ he said. “No one deserves to lose a child, a family member, in the way that this has gone down.”

“This will not be tolerated in the City of Bessemer plain and simple,’’ the chief said. “We’re not going to have this activity.”

Wood said police can’t be everywhere.

“If someone has made up in their mind that they’re going to go shoot someone, they’re going to go shoot them. We react to that,’’ he said. “I wish we could be everywhere. I wish we could have stopped all this nonsense, but we couldn’t.”

Wood said law enforcement is hindered by the permit-less carry laws in Alabama. The state became the 25th state in the U.S. to approve a permit-less carry law in 2022.

“I agree you have the right to carry a gun,’’ Wood said, “but you need a background check.”

“People say it wouldn’t make a difference. They’re going to get guns,’’ he said. “But if they’re on their way to a shooting and the police stop them and they don’t have a permit for that gun, guess what?”

“We can take them to jail,’’ Wood said. “It’s a misdemeanor, correct, but it just stopped a felony or a robbery or something else.”

“It would cut out some of this mess, but it’s not going to stop,’’ the chief said. “It’s a cultural thing with the younger people. It’s something that they believe is the way to solve problems.”

“You’ve got to talk it out,” he said, “not shoot it out.”

Bessemer Cutoff Jefferson County District Attorney Lynneice Washington agree with the chief on permit-less carry, which she said contributed to the proliferation of guns on the streets.

She also vowed to get justice for the families of those touched by the violent weekend.

“The behavior of what we have seen over these last three, four days is unacceptable,’’ she said. “When we catch you, and we will, you will be aggressively prosecuted.”

“Right now,’’ Washington said, “you have mothers and fathers who are today are trying to make funeral arrangements for their child, or their husband or their loved one for something that’s senseless.”

Anyone with information in any of the weekend shootings is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.