MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Following a mass shooting that killed two people and wounded a dozen others in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey said Monday that the state will take a greater role in public safety efforts in the capital city.
The deadly shooting unfolded Saturday at about 11:31 p.m. in a crowded section of the city's downtown filled with bars, hotels and restaurants. The location is less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Alabama Capitol and near sites that pay tribute to Rosa Parks and other key figures in the city’s history.
Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys said they believe one of the 14 victims was targeted and gunfire erupted in the crowded area. He said others then took out their own guns and started firing.
“As you can imagine, that could be a very chaotic situation,” Graboys said Sunday. Seven of the 14 victims are under the age of 20, the police chief said.
Ivey, a Republican, said she is exploring options in response to the shooting. As a start, she said Capitol troopers will extend their patrol zones to include other key downtown areas. The governor said she will also ask Alabama lawmakers to approve additional resources for state law enforcement downtown.
“Let me be clear: All available state assets are being discussed, and ALL options remain on the table," Ivey said in a written statement released Monday morning. “Montgomery is a special place filled with history, great potential and a strong community of people.”
Ivey said, “Alabamians lost their lives at the hands of thugs in downtown Montgomery this weekend.” The governor noted that the state previously created a multi-agency task force to address crime in downtown Montgomery.
“Unfortunately, you can’t fix stupid. It is clear that to have a safe Montgomery, it is going to take more than these steps,” Ivey said.
No arrests had been announced as of Monday morning.
Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed, in a response to Ivey, said the city would welcome state assistance but also said lax state gun laws have “taken critical tools away from police officers.”
Alabama in 2023 ended the requirement to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public. Last year, Reed and city officials sought to enact a city ordinance that would require a person carrying a concealed firearm to also carry a photo ID. The effort was abandoned amid concerns about loss of state funding.
“We welcome any assistance the state is willing to provide. But real safety requires more than additional troopers or task forces — it requires the courage to confront the culture of easy access to guns and a lack of responsibility among those who carry them,” Reed said.
Reed said five police officers were nearby when the shooting occurred, including one officer who was within 50 feet (15 meters) of the shooting.
Star-shaped balloons and flowers were tied to street lights in downtown Montgomery, Ala., on Oct. 6, 2025 at the site of a mass shooting that killed two people and wounded a dozen others. (Kim Chandler/Associated Press)
This image taken from video provided by WSFA shows the scene after a shooting earlier Saturday in downtown Montgomery, Ala., Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (WSFA via AP)
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Right after his 80th birthday party celebrations, U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to a summit in France of the G7 club of powerful democracies to dive into issues — Iran, Ukraine, trade and more — that have been sources of friction with allies he will be meeting.
Hours before leaving Washington, Trump announced an agreement to end the war — a development that could change the dynamic for the G7 leaders during the talks from late Monday to Wednesday.
Just days ago, when the Iran-U.S. ceasefire was hanging by a thread, with resumed strikes, the gathering on the shores of Europe’s largest Alpine lake appeared headed for stormy waters.
Analysts speculated that tempers could flare and that Trump might not stick around for long in Evian-les-Bains, the Alpine spa town that's been enveloped in a security bubble for the G7 leaders and guests also invited by French President Emmanuel Macron, the host.
Aside from France and the U.S., the other G7 nations are Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Here's what to know about their latest annual summit:
Shared values and interests, leaders' personal chemistry and the informality of G7 gatherings — the club first came together in 1975 to brainstorm fixes for the ailing global economy — have facilitated discussion at previous meetings.
“Many of the great G7 summit initiatives have come from leaders’ spontaneous combustion, created by them on the spot, based on free, unrestricted dialogue about the values, memories and even the sports, like baseball, that they share,” said John Kirton, a G7 specialist at the University of Toronto.
But Trump’s relationships with European allies have been fraught even before he launched the Iran war with Israel in February without consulting them. The Evian gathering is their first get-together since then.
Allies that Trump berated for refusing to join the war are likely to greet any Iran deal with relief if it reopens the Strait of Hormuz and enables Persian Gulf energy exports to flow freely again.
As host, Macron has packed the meatiest and potentially most contentious topics into the summit’s first 24 hours, including the Iran war and its impact on energy supplies and the Ukraine war that’s largely slipped down the White House's list of top priorities.
Tuesday's morning session on Ukraine will afford invited guest President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an opportunity to showcase progress that Ukrainian forces are making against the Russian invasion. If Zelenskyy is able to convince Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot achieve his aims in the war militarily, he might perhaps also be able to persuade him that Putin should be pushed to the negotiating table.
After his Oval Office thrashing by Trump and Vice President JD Vance last year, Zelenskyy now has "a significantly stronger hand,” said Maria Snegovaya, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank.
The Trump administration “does tend to look more favorably at those states that have certain positions of power tilting in their favor,” she said.
A lunch meeting Tuesday on the Middle East could go any number of ways. The U.S.-Iran deal is expected to be signed on Friday, followed by technical talks on details over the next 60 days. Trump will be pressed for more information about the terms of the agreement.
If it reopens the Strait of Hormuz, France and Britain are expected to make the case that they could help rid the narrow waterway of any mines and escort tankers through it. They have been working on such plans with other nations but have been waiting for a stable ceasefire to launch the mission.
G7 leaders are also expected to talk about developing other energy supply routes out of the Gulf, including via Egypt. The Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, as well as Qatar’s ruling emir and the United Arab Emirates' president will join those talks. Trump is also meeting with each of those regional leaders privately during the summit.
China, not a G7 member, is expected to be a focus of economic talks on Wednesday. G7 nations are concerned that China is flooding export markets with subsidized products, unfairly out-competing their own industries and destroying jobs. China's economy dwarfs those of all G7 nations except the United States.
Discussions are also scheduled on artificial intelligence, including how to protect young people online, and how to economically aid developing countries.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are attending some of the summit. So, too, are the leaders of South Korea and Kenya.
The G7 countries take turns hosting and organizing activities. France inherited the G7 presidency from Canada, last year’s summit host, and will pass it to the U.S. in 2027.
The club's first summit, in Rambouillet, France, in 1975, brought together the leaders of six nations — France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. — for brainstorming on how to speed their recovery from the sharpest economic slump since World War II. Canada joined the following year, making the G7.
No G7 leader has ever skipped an annual summit, a perfect attendance record for more than 50 years, said Kirton, the University of Toronto specialist.
Membership has always been limited to democracies, enabling Russia to join as a fledgling democracy in 1998 but ruling out Communist Party-ruled China.
The club has broken off with Russia since 2014, when Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine, foreshadowing the full-scale war now raging since 2022.
Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.
Oxfam's satirical 'big heads' of the G7 leaders depicting French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump pose, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Sunday, June 14, 2026, ahead of the G7 summit scheduled to take place in France June 15-17. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron attend an Indian education and ecosystem event in Nice, southern France, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, Pool)
Oxfam's satirical 'big heads' of the G7 leaders pose, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Sunday, June 14, 2026, ahead of the G7 summit scheduled to take place in France June 15-17. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
