Birmingham Magic City Classic Shooting: Mayor Reveals Two Attacks, Teen Held

Birmingham's mayor has revealed that the gunfire outside Legion Field after Saturday's Magic City Classic was not a single shooting but two separate shootings minutes apart, as police confirmed a 17-year-old is in custody in connection with the violence that left one person dead and eight others injured. The Birmingham Magic City Classic shooting update, delivered at a Sunday-afternoon briefing, is the most detailed official account yet of a night that turned a celebration of Alabama's largest historically Black college football rivalry into a crime scene.

Mayor Randall Woodfin told reporters on Sunday, November 1, 2026, that the first shooting produced six victims and the second, less than eight minutes later across the street from the stadium, produced three more. The clarification matters because early reports had described a single burst of gunfire near vendors on Graymont Avenue. Police now say two distinct incidents unfolded in the same area shortly after the 85th Magic City Classic ended.

Key Points

• Mayor Randall Woodfin said Sunday there were two separate shootings outside Legion Field after the Magic City Classic, not one.
• The first shooting left six victims; a second shooting under eight minutes later across the street left three victims.
• In total, one person was killed and eight people were injured; one victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
• A 17-year-old is in custody on a 48-hour hold, is not affiliated with either university, and had a gun fitted with a Glock conversion switch, the mayor said.
• No formal charges, motive or victim names had been publicly released as of Sunday afternoon, and the investigation remains active.

What Happened

Multiple shots rang out in the 400 block of Graymont Avenue West, near Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, beginning at about 7:50 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, 2026, shortly after the Magic City Classic game between Alabama A&M University and Alabama State University had finished. Alabama A&M won the game 31-28, ending a four-game losing streak in the rivalry, and most spectators and families had already left the stadium property when the shooting began in the area where vendors were set up along Graymont Avenue.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service was dispatched to the scene at about 7:55 p.m. Fire Chief Cory D. Moon said at Sunday's briefing that one person was pronounced dead at the scene. Police had earlier confirmed nine people were hit by gunfire in total. Officers secured multiple weapons near the scene on Saturday night, and police suspended all Magic City Classic tailgating, ordered the stadium property cleared and asked the public to send in video of the incident through an evidence portal.

On Saturday night, Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett said at a news conference that he was "very grateful that more people weren't injured," given the crowds that had gathered for the game. Assistant public information officer De'Rell Freeman told reporters on Saturday that officers had located multiple gunshot victims after responding to the 400 block of Graymont Avenue, and that one person had been detained and transported to police headquarters for questioning. Sunday's briefing turned that detention into a clearer custody picture: a teenager held on a 48-hour hold while investigators work out what charges, if any, will follow.

Background/Context

The Magic City Classic is one of the biggest annual events in Birmingham, drawing tens of thousands of fans, alumni and vendors to Legion Field for the meeting of Alabama's two largest historically Black universities. Saturday's game was the 85th edition of the rivalry. The shooting happened outside the stadium, in the surrounding streets where vendors and tailgaters gather, rather than inside the venue itself.

This site has already reported the incident twice: first on Saturday night, when police had confirmed one death but not the full victim count, and again when police confirmed one person detained and the toll of one dead and eight injured. Sunday's mayoral briefing is a further step, not a repeat of those reports, because it establishes for the first time that two shootings took place, gives the six-plus-three split of victims, and identifies the custody status and weapon detail of the teenager now held.

The violence came one week after a mass shooting near Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, in which shots fired during a fight wounded 11 people, including six juveniles. CNN, citing the Gun Violence Archive, reported that there have been at least 393 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2026, using the archive's definition of four or more people shot, not including the shooter. Birmingham's own weekend toll — nine people shot across two incidents — sits inside that wider national pattern of gun violence around large public gatherings.

Birmingham Magic City Classic Shooting: What the Mayor's Briefing Changed

Three elements of Sunday's briefing are genuinely new. First, the two-shooting structure: Woodfin said the first shooting resulted in six victims and the second, across the street from the stadium less than eight minutes later, resulted in three victims. That replaces the simpler early picture of one shooting incident and helps explain why victim reports on Saturday night seemed to come from more than one spot.

Second, the custody detail: the 17-year-old now in custody is being held on a 48-hour hold, is not affiliated with either Alabama A&M or Alabama State, and was found with a gun fitted with a Glock conversion switch — a device that can convert a handgun to fire automatically. Police have not said whether the teenager is suspected in one or both shootings, and no charges had been announced as of Sunday afternoon.

Third, the confirmed death at the scene: Fire Chief Moon said one person was pronounced dead at the scene, confirming the fatal outcome at the location itself rather than later at a hospital. The conditions of the eight injured victims had not been individually detailed in the Sunday briefing reports, beyond the earlier police account of victims including people in critical and stable condition.

Reactions/Quotes

Mayor Randall Woodfin told reporters at the Sunday briefing that there were two separate shootings outside Legion Field: "The first shooting resulted in six victims, followed by a second shooting, with three victims, less than eight minutes later across the street from the stadium." He also confirmed that a 17-year-old is in custody on a 48-hour hold, is not affiliated with either university, and had a gun with a Glock conversion switch.

Fire Chief Cory D. Moon said at the briefing that one person was pronounced dead at the scene, and that Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service had been dispatched at about 7:55 p.m. On Saturday night, Police Chief Michael Pickett had said he was "very grateful that more people weren't injured," reflecting how crowded the area had been after the game.

Police have asked anyone with photos or video of the shootings to submit them through the department's evidence portal, and the investigation remains active. No official statement from either university about the teenager's custody status had been reported as of Sunday afternoon, beyond the mayor's point that the teenager is not affiliated with either school.

Why It Matters

The two-shooting finding changes how investigators, and the public, understand Saturday night. A single incident suggests one confrontation; two incidents minutes apart across a street suggest a more complex sequence that detectives must now untangle — whether the second shooting was retaliation, a separate dispute, or connected to the first at all. Police have not answered that question publicly, and this article does not guess.

The Glock conversion switch detail also matters for the policy debate that follows almost every such shooting. Conversion switches, sometimes called auto sears, are illegal under federal law when fitted to handguns, and law enforcement agencies across the country have warned about their spread, including among teenagers. If prosecutors charge a weapons offence alongside any shooting charge, the switch could become a central part of the case.

For Birmingham, the shooting also raises immediate questions about security for the Magic City Classic itself — one of the city's flagship weekends — and about how large crowds are protected in the streets around Legion Field once a game ends and vendors, families and tailgaters mix. The city suspended tailgating on Saturday night as a precaution; whether that changes future planning for the event will be a decision for the mayor, police and the universities in the days ahead.

What Happens Next

The 48-hour hold gives investigators a short window to interview the teenager, examine the recovered weapons, review video submitted by the public and decide on charges. If no charges are filed within that window, police will have to release him or seek another legal basis to hold him. Formal charges, a motive and the names of victims are all still to come, and police have said the investigation is active.

Detectives will also be working to establish the sequence of the two shootings: who fired, in which order, and whether the same people were involved in both. Ballistics testing on the recovered weapons, including the gun with the conversion switch, will be part of that work. A further police update is expected once charging decisions are made, and this site will report it as a new development rather than re-running this account.

For the families of the nine people shot, the immediate next steps are medical: hospitals have not released individual conditions since the early police accounts, and the city has not published a victim list. Anyone with information is asked to contact Birmingham police or use the department's evidence portal.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people were shot in Birmingham after the Magic City Classic?

Nine people were shot in total: one person was killed and eight were injured, across two separate shootings near Legion Field on Saturday, October 31, 2026.

Were there one or two shootings?

Two, according to Mayor Randall Woodfin's Sunday briefing. The first shooting left six victims; a second shooting less than eight minutes later across the street left three victims.

Has anyone been arrested?

A 17-year-old is in custody on a 48-hour hold. Police have not announced formal charges, and the teenager has not been named. He is not affiliated with Alabama A&M or Alabama State, the mayor said.

What is a Glock conversion switch?

It is a small device fitted to a handgun that can allow it to fire automatically, like a machine gun. Such devices are illegal under federal law when installed on a handgun. Police have not said how, if at all, the device figures in any charge.

Where and when did the shootings happen?

Shots rang out from about 7:50 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, 2026, in the 400 block of Graymont Avenue West, outside Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, shortly after the 85th Magic City Classic ended.

Related coverage on US News Pulse: Birmingham Magic City Classic shooting: one detained as police confirm 1 dead, 8 injured, Birmingham Magic City Classic shooting leaves one dead, several wounded, and Fayetteville Dickson Street shooting injures 6 near University of Arkansas.