- Four people were killed, and several people were injured in an Alabama party shooting
- The shooting is alleged to have taken place at a teenager's 16th birthday celebration
- Video shows ambulances and police vehicles positioned outside an emergency unit at a hospital in Dadeville.
At least four people were killed, and over 20 were injured in a mass shooting at a teenager's birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama, on Saturday evening.
Sgt. Jeremy Burkett, a spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, said at a news conference on Sunday that the incident in Dadeville occurred around 10:34 p.m. Sergeant Burkett did not provide information about who opened fire or why.
Alabama Birthday Party Killed 4 People, Including Celebrant's Brother
The murder took place at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio, The Montgomery Advertiser reported. Dadeville is about 60 miles northeast of Montgomery, and about 3,000 residents dwell there.
The studio hosted Zumba and line dancing classes for children and adolescents and had been rehearsing for a dance showcase commemorating its second anniversary on April 29, according to its Facebook page. A representative of the studio could not be readily reached on Sunday.
After ambulances overwhelmed the community on Saturday night, residents on Sunday morning grappled with the shooting, which took place at a 16th birthday party, said Ben Hayes, the senior pastor at Dadeville First Baptist Church, who is also the chaplain of the city's Police Department.
Philstavious Dowdell, a Dadeville High School football player who was known as Phil and who had committed to Jacksonville State University, was one of those slain, the pastor said. According to Michael Taylor, a coach at Dadeville High School, Dowdell was 18, and it was his younger sister's birthday party.
KeKe Nicole Smith, 18, a volleyball player and team manager for the Dadeville High School track team, was also slain, Taylor said. Smith's cousin, Amy Jackson, verified her demise in a Facebook message. Taylor, who coached the track team Smith managed, described her as "full of life."
At least 15 adolescents were treated for firearm wounds, said Heidi Smith, a spokeswoman for Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville.
She said that nine of the adolescents were transferred to a different hospital to receive a higher level of care and that five were in critical condition. There were 17 ambulances on the scene after the gunfire, Ms. Smith said. Officials did not specify the ages of the victims.
The Tallapoosa County Board of Education superintendent, Raymond Porter, said at the news conference that schools would counsel pupils on Monday. "We will make every effort to console those children," Porter said.
On Sunday morning, Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama said on Twitter that her office was receiving updates about the incident. President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident, and he and his staff have contacted local law enforcement and authorities to offer support, White House officials said.
Researchers studying gun violence say it is difficult to explain why the rate has risen so rapidly. Still, most emphasize that the proliferation of firearms has most likely played a role.
Taylor said that classes would be in session on Monday at Dadeville High School, where many victims were students. He was already attempting to figure out what to say to the students who would show up.
US Gun Violence
Following the incident, several families gathered outside a nearby hospital, according to a video posted on Twitter. According to Susan Foy, Chief Marketing Director of Russell Medical Center in Alexander City, the occurrence was a "horrific tragedy."
She verified that the hospital treated and released many people. Several patients with gunshot wounds have been moved to other hospitals to receive better care for their individual wounds/injuries.
She had no news of any fatalities among the wounded at the medical hospital. Foy will not discuss the ages or numbers of victims. With only 81 beds, the hospital is tiny and rural. As per Fox News, patients are not uncommon to be transferred to different hospitals where additional specialists are available.
According to NY Times, guns are the primary murderer of children in the United States, making it an extreme outlier compared with similarly large and affluent nations. In 2020, gun violence surpassed automobile accidents and disease to become the leading murderer of children.
The gun mortality rate for minors in the United States is nearly five in every 100,000. The rate had been stable for over a decade, starting in 2000, and began to increase in 2014.