(Trends Wide) — After a “Sweet 16” birthday celebration was wrecked by a shooting over the weekend that left four people dead and at least 28 others injured, investigators in Dadeville, Alabama, are still working to determine what caused the mayhem.
Authorities have yet to release details about a suspect or possible motive and have not disclosed what led up to the shooting, which began rang out around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.
Among the dead were the birthday girl’s brother, Philstavious Dowdell, a talented football player beloved by the community, according to Ben Hayes, chaplain of the Dadeville High School football team, and Keenan Cooper, who was DJing at the party when the shooting took place.
A few weeks before the shooting, assistant football coach Michael Taylor said Dowdell had told him, “If anything ever happens to me, even when I go to college, take care of my two sisters.”
Keke Smith, a high school senior, also died, according to Taylor and Amy Jackson, who said she was Smith’s cousin.
The shooting left dozens of partygoers with “a wide variety of injuries” and some remained in critical condition as of Sunday afternoon, said Sgt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
Hayes, who is also a church pastor and chaplain for the Dadeville Police Department, spent Saturday night at a hospital where multiple victims were taken and comforted students and family members who had gathered there.
“It’s a tight-knit community. Everyone knows each other. That’s why it’s so hard.” And he added: “I knew these guys personally, most people.”
Mourners gather during a vigil for the victims of a shooting during a Sweet 16 party on April 15, 2023.
Teneeshia Goodman-Johnson, a Dadeville city council member, told a Trends Wide affiliate that supporting grieving students should be the community’s top goal.
“Her physical, mental and emotional health is my priority right now,” Johnson told affiliate WAKA. “We have to make sure they’re okay.”
Meanwhile, investigators continue to gather information about the shooting, Burkett said.
“We’ve been getting ongoing updates throughout the day and we’re absolutely trying to confirm and understand everyone that was on site there,” he said.
The sergeant also encouraged anyone with information about the incident to contact law enforcement. “I never tire of saying it: we need to share it,” Burkett said.
The Dadeville incident came less than two hours after a shooting was reported in a crowded park in Louisville, Kentucky, which killed two people and wounded four others. After the violence this weekend, there have been more than 160 mass shootings so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which is more mass shootings than there have been days of the year.
The file, like Trends Wide, defines mass shootings as those in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.
President Joe Biden responded to the Dadeville and Louisville shootings in a statement released Sunday, saying he is praying for the families of the victims and reiterating his call on Congress to reach an agreement on gun control legislation. .
“Where have we come in our nation when children can’t attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their children walk out the door to go to school, to the movies or to the park?” . Biden said.
What we know about the victims
Although authorities have not yet released the names of those killed, several people who knew Dowdell identified him as one of the victims, describing him as a much-loved student-athlete who had incredible potential.
Taylor, who said he’s coached Dowdell since he was 9 years old, described him as an exceptional athlete, saying, “Whatever he could get his hands on, God would bless him that he could do it.”
Dowdell was just weeks away from graduating and had received a football scholarship to Alabama’s Jacksonville State University, Cooper said.
Jacksonville State head coach Rich Rodriguez issued a statement Sunday describing Dowdell as “a great young man with a bright future.”
Philstavious Dowdell was about to graduate high school.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Philstavious Dowdell and the other victims of last night’s senseless tragedy,” Rodriguez said.
Johnson, a city council member, said he knew Dowdell and two of the other victims, whom he described as smart kids with “very bright futures.”
“Very athletic, very humble, very respectful kids,” Johnson said. “They just wanted to have fun and that was taken away from them.”
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A second victim, KeKe Smith, was identified by Jackson, who said she is Smith’s cousin and described the student as “always smiling.” Jackson said she learned of her cousin’s death from Smith’s mother.
Smith was a senior in high school and hoped to attend the University of Alabama. Taylor also confirmed Smith’s death and said he was a track student on the Dadeville High School track team.
Some seriously injured during the shooting
Those injured during the shooting were taken to various medical centers, including at least 15 teenagers who were taken to Dadeville’s Lake Martin Community Hospital.
Six of the injured were treated and released and the remaining nine were transferred to other centers, hospital spokeswoman Heidi Smith said Sunday. At the last check-up, five of these adolescents were in critical condition and four were stable.
In nearby Alexander City, Russell Medical Center “received multiple patients” from the party shooting, spokeswoman Susan Foy said.
“They were treated and released or transferred to other facilities,” Foy said. She did not confirm how many patients were received or their ages.
At least one of the injured was a student from the town of Pike Road, about 100 kilometers southwest of Dadeville and on the outskirts of Montgomery, Pike Road schools said in a statement on Facebook. It is not clear what injuries the student sustained or his condition.
“Many of our students know the victims of this tragedy. We can confirm that one of our students was present, and we continue to pray for his full recovery,” the statement said.
Trends Wide’s Holly Yan, Chris Boyette, Emma Tucker, Keith Allen, Dianne Gallagher, Tina Burnside, Joe Sutton, David Williams and Alex Medeiros contributed to this report.
