How Witnesses are Helping Birmingham Police Close ‘Significant’ Number of Homicide Cases

By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times This is another installment in Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series “Beyond the Violence: what can be done to address Birmingham’s rising homicide rate.” Sign up for the newsletter here. More witnesses are coming forward to help the Birmingham Police Department (BPD) make arrests and close a “significant” number of homicide cases, but now is not the time to celebrate, as gun violence continues to increase in the city, BPD Chief Scott Thurmond said during a recent interview. Police credit an “outpouring of assistance” from community members in obtaining arrests warrants for suspects in the shooting death of 21-year-old Asia Poole on Tuesday, August 20. A total of five suspects have been arrested in connection with the shooting after the fifth was taken into custody Wednesday and fourth to be charged with murder. In another case this month, with the help of a witness, police were able to arrest a suspect in a seven-year-old homicide case involving a 57-year-old woman who had been stabbed to death. Until recently, investigators didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest. That changed when a witness came forward, police said. Thurmond, who is on the Crime Stoppers Board, said...