Four young men are now formally charged in the Saturday-night shooting in Avondale that left a little boy dead, and wounded two adults.

Birmingham police late Monday announced capital murder charges against Tyrone Smith, 18, D'Marco Harris, 21, Mykahl Harris, 20 and Joshua Carpenter, 21. All will be held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.

No additional information has been released about a motive or details about their arrests.

Police Chief A.C. Roper and Birmingham Mayor William Bell earlier held a 3:30 p.m. press conference to discuss the slaying of 2-year-old Ron'Narius "Duke" Austin, and the wounding of his mother, Shay Austin. The driver of the vehicle they were in was shot in the back, but his name has not been released. Duke's father was also in the vehicle but was not injured.

"This past weekend there was another tragic incident of a young child being murdered at the hands of irresponsible individuals who would shoot into a vehicle and cause the death of a 2-year-old, as well as the injuring of several adults,'' Bell said. "In my mind, I can't understand any situation where someone would pull a gun and fire into an occupied vehicle with the intent of taking lives."

"I know there is concern whether or not the City of Birmingham and in particular the mayor of the City of Birmingham cares about that,'' he said. "Being the grandfather of a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old, I can assure that any loss of life of a child is a tragic situation. Under no circumstances will we accept that as an everyday occurrence, under no circumstances will we allow that to go un-checked."

"We're all concerned about the death of this child,'' Roper said. "It's absolutely unconscionable that a child could lose his life due to the reckless and careless actions of adults."

Birmingham police responded to the Avondale district just before 11:30 p.m. Saturday where they found the three wounded victims. Duke was shot in the head. His mother was hit multiple times in the arm and the unnamed driver of the vehicle was shot in the back. Ronald Austin was in the back seat with his son, and was not injured. He was holding Duke when police arrived on the scene.

Police said the shooting happened at least a block away but they stopped next to the Chevron across the street from Avondale Common House. Officers patrolling the area- a popular night spot - heard what they described as multiple, rapid shots fired and rushed to the scene.

The actual gunfire erupted in the alley in the 4200 block of Fourth Avenue South. A vehicle with at least four people in it was at some point involved in a shootout with someone inside the victims' vehicle. After the shooting, he said, the suspect vehicle left the scene. A gun was found in the back seat of the victims' vehicle.

Duke's grandmother, Cheryl Irby, spoke with AL.com earlier Monday and disputed that anyone in the vehicle carrying her family fired shots. She said son, Ronald Austin, and daughter-in-law loved their baby boy, and did not knowingly put him in danger. Ronald and Shay Austin, as well as their 2-year-old son Ron'Narius "Duke" Austin, were on their way home from a family barbecue in Birmingham Saturday night when the shooting happened, said Duke's grandmother, Cheryl Irby. She said despite their overwhelming grief, she is speaking out to set the record straight.

"They would have never put that baby in harm's way,'' Irby said. "That was their baby."

Bell said the police department has used multiple initiatives to fight crime, and will continue to do so. "We can't have a police officers on every corner. We can't have a police officer in every vehicle. We can't have a police officer in every home or apartment,'' he said. "The issues that face us are too many guns on the street, indiscriminate conflicts that should be resolved with discussion... but we've got to continue to strive to make our streets safer."

Bell was asked about how the shooting could impact the strides the city has made in the revitalization of the Avondale area, but he cut off the question. "That's not my concern. My concern is the loss of a 2-year-old who had a great future in front of him,'' he said. "We can talk about the economic impact, we can talk about all these other things but that's not my concern. My concern is finding justice for that 2-year-old that was killed."

Roper on Monday reiterated that people from within each vehicle fired shots fired at each other, and said investigators recovered guns from both vehicles involved in the shootout.

"So we're being very diligent in piecing together those critical moments that led up the shooting,'' Roper said. "The bottom line is at the end of the day, there is no substitute for person responsibility."

"As a department, we will do everything we can to bring the perpetrators to justice, but it takes all of us,'' the chief said. "It takes the community saying this is enough. As the mayor mentioned, we can't be everywhere. We wish we could."

The chief was asked if Birmingham had looked at other programs nationwide that perhaps could impact crime here. This was his reply: "The bottom line is it shouldn't take a program to make someone honor someone's life,'' he said. "There's no four-hour class that will make you value the life of another person."

Roper said police still need help from the public in building the case. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.