Five Points South business reacts to mass shooting arrest

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Birmingham Police arrested one man in connection with the mass shooting in Five Points South last month.

Small businesses in the area are feeling relief.

T-Bone’s Authentic Philly Style Cheesesteaks and Hoagies is located on 20th Street around the corner from where the shooting happened.

Even a month later, the co-owner said they‘re still noticing more online orders than in-person business. He’s also glad to hear justice is being served.

“The fact that people know that the perpetrators of this isolated incident are being locked up and actions are being taken, I’m sure that’s gonna put ease in a lot of people’s hearts,” said T-Bone’s Co-Owner Ali Crawford.

His small business was closing up shop on September 21 when shots rang out nearby.

“At a small business, this is a family,” he said. “I wondered if my brother was OK, if my sister was OK. It’s on that kind of level so it was horrifying.”

Though Crawford wasn’t working the night of the shooting, he and his dad were frantic, calling employees to make sure everyone was safe.

“Horrified, just the thought of who’s alive,” he explained. “Who’s alive? Because for the first hour, we heard nothing from anybody for the most part, a part from Donita.”

Now that Birmingham Police are arresting those involved, Crawford says it’s a relief: “The fact that arrests are being made is also good now that justice is actually being served. Life is too short to not love one another.”

He has a message for those involved in all the gun violence.

“For as advanced as we are as humans, we cannot be reduced to barbaric activity like killing each other,” said Crawford. “There are so many chances for you to make a name for yourself other than making a name on the headlines for killing somebody. Be a politician so you can change the laws that you don’t like. Be a musician so you can express yourself in difference ways other than spreading blood on the floor. How about some red paint instead?”

Police Chief Scott Thurmond said this investigation isn’t over. If you have any more information about last month’s mass shooting, you can still share your tips to BPD and Crime Stoppers.

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