In the most recent outburst of gun-related mass violence in America, at least four people were murdered and more than 20 others, mostly teenagers, were injured in an Alabama birthday party shooting on Saturday night, according to officials.
According to local reports, the incident took place during a Sweet 16 party held at a dance studio in Dadeville, a small hamlet located to the northeast of Montgomery, the state capital.
“There were four lives tragically lost in this incident, and there’s been a multitude of injuries,” Sergeant Jeremy Burkett, a spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), told reporters Sunday.
Later, he clarified that 28 people had been hurt, some of them critically, and he begged locals to come forward with any information they may have about the attack. But Burkett did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding or motivation for the shooting.
According to Annette Allen, who spoke to the Montgomery Advertiser, her grandson Phil Dowdell was one of those killed; he had been at a party honoring his sister Alexis’s 16th birthday when gunshots erupted.
“He was a very, very humble child. Never messed with anybody. Always had a smile on his face,” Allen said of her grandson, a high school senior and football player due to graduate within weeks.
“Everybody’s grieving,” Allen said of the small community of some 3,000 residents.
President Joe Biden, who was briefed on the shooting, said the nation was again grieving over young Americans killed in gun violence.
“What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear?” Biden, who has long sought tighter gun safety measures, asked in a statement.
“Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising — not declining,” he added. “This is outrageous and unacceptable.”
According to Heidi Smith, marketing director for the rural health facility’s operator IvyCreek Healthcare, 15 different gunshot wound patients, most of whom were in their teens, were treated at the neighboring Lake Martin Community Hospital.
Six of the patients were discharged and nine have been transferred to facilities with higher levels of care. Of those, five were in critical condition, Smith said.
“It’s been terrible,” she said.
More than 12 hours after the tragedy, neither Burkett nor other law enforcement officials provided any details on who may have perpetrated the shooting and why, or whether a suspect has been detained.
“We can’t share anything further at this time,” the sergeant said, adding only that “it was tied to a birthday party.”