Worst Pandemic of Bored Unemployment EVER What’s behind Birmingham’s record-breaking homicide rate? ‘It’s just too much' Rope. Dynamite. Guns. And more guns, founded on railroads and coal mines.

• Published: Dec. 19, 2024, 11:50 a.m.

By Alaina Bookman | abookman@al.com and Cody D. Short | cshort@al.com

Editor's Note

In 1933, Birmingham, then a young city founded on railroads and coal mines, counted 148 homicides, as men, so far as we know, killed each other with all manner of weapons. Some while drinking, others while fighting, others caught up in others' arguments.

On Wednesday, Birmingham broke that nearly century-old record, as police responded to the 149th homicide of 2024, finding a man shot to death in the front yard of a home in Titusville.

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