A man was found shot to death Friday morning in a grassy field in a southwest Birmingham neighborhood.

A passerby made the discovery at 8:45 a.m. in the 3900 block of Walnut Avenue.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said officers were dispatched on a report of a person down. When they arrived, they found the adult Black male dead on the scene.

Fitzgerald said the victim is believed to be in his 40s.

Initially police said they had not identified the victim. But about two hours after the body was found, family members pulled up to the crime scene saying they had been looking or loved one all morning.

Police were able to confirm the family’s suspicions that the victim was their son and brother. The family was visibly distraught once they were notified.

Police roped off the area and mark a number of shell casings in the roadway.

“There is a significant amount of rounds in the area,’’ Fitzgerald said. “We are investigating a lot of shots fired in this call.”

It wasn’t immediately clear when the shooting happened, but at least one neighbor reported hearing what he believed to be automatic gunfire overnight.

Investigators believe the victim was targeted.

The victim is Birmingham’s 109th homicide victim this year. Of those, one was an officer-involved shooting by an outside law enforcement agency and eight others have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.

In all of Jefferson County, there have been 154 homicides including the 109 in Birmingham.

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.