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April 16 (Reuters) – At least four people were killed and 28 injured in a late-night shooting at a dance studio in the small town of Dadeville, Alabama, during a celebration of Sweet 16’s birthday. bottom. said on Sunday.
Some of the wounded were seriously injured during the shooting in eastern central Alabama, about 60 miles (100 km) northeast of the state capital, Montgomery, officials said. There was no official word on what led to the gun violence.
Authorities said the shootings began shortly after 10:30 pm (CT) Saturday, but declined to answer questions or provide details at two press conferences on Sunday.
Authorities said the threat to the community had ceased, but did not say whether the suspect was killed or arrested.
Alabama Law Enforcement Sergeant Jeremy Burkett said, “We will continue to investigate this case thoroughly, find out the facts, and work to bring justice to the bereaved families.” agency.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports that one of the four people killed in the riot was a high school football player who was shot by a gunman while attending his sister’s “Sweet 16” birthday party. rice field.
Citing the victim’s grandmother, the newspaper identified the murdered teenager as Phil Dowdell. Phil Dowdell was graduating in a few weeks and was due to attend Jacksonville State University on a football scholarship.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the information or learn the identities of the other three victims.
The party was held inside the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio. The studio is a converted old bank building about half a block from City Hall in a town of about 3,200 residents. The scene was sealed with yellow crime scene tape on Sunday.
Hundreds of community members gathered early Sunday evening in a parking lot a few blocks from the shooting site for an outdoor prayer vigil.
“What did you come to our country for?”
The bloodshed in Alabama is the third in the southern United States in recent weeks after mass shootings in Tennessee and Kentucky prompted local leaders to call for tighter gun control. It was a high-profile shooting incident.
In at least one shooting in August 2016, gunmen injured five people during a party at American Legion Hall, according to Montgomery Advertiser.
“What happened to our country when children can’t attend birthday parties without fear?” President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday.
Biden called the rising gun violence in the United States “outrageous and unacceptable,” and told Congress to hold gun manufacturers more accountable for gun violence and to sell assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition depots. We called for laws to be passed to ban and mandate the safe storage of firearms and firearms. Background checks on gun sales.
Tallapoosa County School Superintendent Raymond Porter said counseling will be offered at schools in the area on Monday and asked local clergy to help families through the situation.
“We will do everything in our power to comfort our children and not lose sight of the fact that they are most affected by this situation,” Porter said.
Meanwhile, Republicans and other prominent party members vying for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination advocated for unregulated gun rights at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual conference in Indiana over the weekend. I tried to claim that I was an unwavering supporter of .
The Dadeville murders came five days after a Louisville, Kentucky bank employee shot dead five co-workers and injured nine at work. On March 27, three nine-year-olds and three teachers were murdered by former students at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mass shootings are a daily occurrence in the United States, with more than 163 so far in 2023, the most since at least 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive. . The nonprofit defines a mass shooting as when four or more of his people, excluding the shooter, are injured or killed.
Reported by Julia Harte Edited by Bill Berkrot
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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