Alabama shooting – update: Suspect at large in Dadeville party mass shooting as victim speaks from hospital

The investigation is continuing into the mass shooting at a teen birthday party in smalltown Dadeville, Alabama, in which four people were killed and 32 injured.

One of the survivors of the tragedy, Brenazja Hutchinson, has given an interview from her hospital bed and recalled: “I was still inside the building yelling at them to help me, and nobody would help me so I had to gain my strength and walk outside after being shot.”

High school football star Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, was one of the four killed in the incident and it has emerged that he died saving the life of his sister Alexis, whose “Sweet 16” birthday celebration it was.

Shaunkivia (KeKe) Nicole Smith, 17, Marsiah Collins, 19, and Corbin Holston, 23 , have been named as the other three victims of the shooting, which left many more injured, some of whom have since been discharged from hospital while others continue to receive treatment according to the severity of their wounds.

“It was a very sad, sad scene,” said Ben Hayes, senior pastor at Dadeville First Baptist Church . “A very rough night.”

A suspect has not yet been identified by police.

Key Points

• Inquiry continues into birthday party killings

• Shooting survivor gives interview from hospital bed

• High school football star among four victims of latest mass shooting

• Joe Biden: ‘What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear?'

• Gun violence at ‘Sweet 16’ party leaves four dead, 32 injured

Lack of information frustrating, says Dadeville mayor

04:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Dadeville mayor Frank Goodman said yesterday that police had established a new command centre behind a church, but it was not immediately clear if it was connected to the shooting.

He also said a lack of information from police about where the investigation stands has been frustrating for many.

“They hadn’t told us nothing yet. They are not releasing anything,” Mr Goodman said when asked if an arrest was near.

“It’s been frustrating for me especially when citizens come by and want to know what is happening.”

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

04:00 , Andrea Blanco

A “Sweet 16” birthday party in the Alabama town turned violent when gunfire erupted around 10.34pm on Saturday, leaving four people dead and 28 others injured. Nearly 48 hours on, no arrests have been made and authorities declined to speculate on the suspect or their possible motivation. Authories did say there was no further active threat to the community.

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

The Independent has more:

No suspects named 72 hours on from deadly shooting

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

Police in smalltown Dadeville, Alabama, are continuing their investigation into the mass shooting at a teenager’s birthday party that left four people dead and a further 32 injured.

The violence broke out at approximately 10.34pm on Saturday at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in the downtown area of Dadeville where Alexis Dowdell was celebrating her 16th birthday with friends and family.

Ms Dowdell’s brother Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, a promising high school football star soon to graduate and take up a scholarship at Jacksonville State University, was shot dead at the scene, apparently having pushed Alexis out of harm’s way as she tried to flee the bloody dancefloor before dying in the arms of his mother and sister.

Also killed in the massacre were Shaunkivia (KeKe) Smith, 17, Marsiah Collins, 19, and Corbin Holston, 23.

With police remaining tight-lipped as their inquiries continue, the stories of the survivors are beginning to come to light.

Teen celebrating her 16th birthday recalls seeing her brother die

02:00 , Andrea Blanco

Speaking to the Associated Press, Alexis Dowdell remembered trying to comfort her brother in his final moments, saying: “I got on my knees and he was laying face down. And that’s when I grabbed him. I turned him over, I was holding him.

“I wasn’t crying at the moment because I was trying to be strong instead of panicking. And so I said, ‘You’re going to be all right. You’re a fighter, you’re strong.”

She later told CBS News Philstavious was “going in and out” of consciousness as she and her mother, Latonya Allen, held him.

“And then when somebody from the ambulance had came in and they felt his pulse and they was like, ‘He’s gone.’ And then I was just like, ‘Please don’t tell me that’.”

She added: “If it wasn’t for him, I mean, I don’t know where I’d be. I don’t know if I would still be standing here today if he would never save my life.”

Has the Alabama birthday party shooter been caught?

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

The small town of Dadeville, Alabama, is reeling from a mass shooting at a “Sweet 16” birthday party that left four people dead and 32 injured.

On the night of Saturday 15 April, revellers had gathered at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio – an unassuming brick building in downtown Dadeville, a town of around 3,000 residents roughly 45 miles north east of Mongomery – to wish happy birthday to Alexis Dowdell.

But a night of celebration turned to tragedy when guns were fired and four people lost their lives in the melee, among them the birthday girl’s beloved older brother Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell.

Read more:

Has the Alabama birthday party shooter been caught?

Everything we know about the Dadeville birthday party attack

Wednesday 19 April 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

According to local police, the shooting began at around 10.34pm on Saturday (15 April) during a celebration held at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in downtown Dadeville, a small town of around 3,000 residents lying 45 miles northeast of Montgomery.

Nearly 72 hours on, no arrests have been made and authorities declined to speculate on the suspect or their possible motivation but said there was no further active threat to the community.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Sergeant Jeremy Burkett said: “There were four lives tragically lost in this incident, and there’s been a multitude of injuries.

Everything we know about the Alabama birthday party shooting

Alabama officials keep quiet on progress in birthday melee

Tuesday 18 April 2023 23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Two days after gunfire erupted at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama — killing four people, including two high school seniors — state police are asking people to come forward if they have video or photographs from the party.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said it has worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to establish a digital tip line for videos and photos. As of Tuesday morning, officials had released little information about the investigation.

“Special Agents are still in the process of gathering and examining information,” the law enforcement agency said in its last public statement, which was issued Monday. “Investigators are still processing all of the evidence, in conjunction with completing interviews, in an effort to solidify a motive and potential suspects.”

In addition to the four young people killed in the shooting, another 32 were injured. The dead range in age from 17 to 23.

The melee rocked the sleepy town of about 3,200 people. Families were planning funerals instead of graduation celebrations for the two high school seniors.

Phil Dowdell died at his sister’s ‘Sweet 16’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 22:13 , Andrea Blanco

A high school star, who was among the victims of a mass shooting in Alabama, died while saving his sister’s life.

Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19, Corbin Holston, 23, and 17-year-old KeKe Nicole Smith have been named as the victims of the shooting in Dadeville where 28 others also sustained injuries.

Read more:

Shooting survivor gives interview from hospital bed

Tuesday 18 April 2023 21:40 , Andrea Blanco

Brenazja Hutchinson, one of the 32 people injured in Dadeville, has given a brief interview to ABC’s Nightline from her hospital bed while she recuperates from her injuries.

“I would say this has definitely been a life-changing experience,” she says.

Recalling the moment she was shot on Saturday night, she says: “I was still inside the building yelling at them to help me, and nobody would help me so I had to gain my strength and walk outside after being shot.”

Paying tribute to Philstavious Dowdell, Ms Hutchinson says: “I feel like he didn’t serve that because he was innocent. He had just committed to going to college and he was a sweet boy and I feel so sorry for his sister.”

One in five Americans have lost a family member to gun violence

Tuesday 18 April 2023 20:59 , Andrea Blanco

An astonishing 19 per cent of Americans have experienced the trauma of losing a relative to gun violence, according to a timely new study, arriving in the wake of the recent mass shootings in Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky.

The survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about the same number (21 per cent) of US adults said they had been personally threatened with a gun.

And one in six US adults (17 per cent) had directly witnessed someone being shot, according to the poll.

The Independent’s Bevan Hurley reports.

One in five Americans have lost a family member to gun violence

Dadeville mayor appeals for calm: ‘It takes time to bring things together’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 20:03 , Andrea Blanco

With the investigation into Saturday night’s killings ongoing, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said in a statement last night that handgun shell casings, but no high-powered rifle ammunition, had been recovered from the scene.

Officers have still not offered any information on precisely what happened inside the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio on Saturday night, nor named a suspected assailant (or, indeed, said whether there was more than one person involved).

Instead, they again assured the public their inquiries were ongoing and invited the public to come forward with helpful information.

Speaking to BBC News yesterday, town mayor Jimmy “Frank” Goodman said: “I understand why they are not putting out information. It just happened Saturday and today’s just Monday. It takes time to bring things together.

“The ones who were there, they aren’t talking [to anybody else] because the authorities are talking to them.

Likening the crime scene to a warzone, Mayor Goodman said: “It’s not grown-ups like it was in Vietnam, these are kids.

“They are schoolkids trying to graduate, trying to make their parents proud. It’s devastating.”

Dadeville High School is scheduled to hold its next graduation ceremony next month, but the institution is said to be revisiting its plans in light of the tragedy, with many students currently being offered counselling.

KeKe Nicole Smith mourned by family: ‘My heart is scattered’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 19:12 , Andrea Blanco

KeKe Nicole Smith, 18, the second person to have been identified as a victim of Saturday’s shooting, has been mourned by her cousin in an emotional Facebook post.

Smith was a volleyball player and team manager for the Dadeville High School track team, Michael Taylor, a coach at the institution, told The New York Times.

Amy Jackson, her cousin, confirmed her death on Facebook in the Dadeville shooting,

“My heart is scattered,” she wrote. “My lil cousin Ke... Please give our family respect during this time of bereavement Give us strength and understanding Mighty God. Praying for all loved ones that have lost their life or were injured.

“We love you Ke... it was a mass shooting in my hometown Dadeville Al... they took her from us.”

Alabama birthday party shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: ‘Nobody would help me’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 18:38 , Andrea Blanco

Police in smalltown Dadeville, Alabama, are continuing their investigation into the mass shooting at a teenager’s birthday party that left four people dead and a further 32 injured.

The violence broke out at approximately 10.34pm on Saturday at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in the downtown area of Dadeville where Alexis Dowdell was celebrating her 16th birthday with friends and family.

The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad has more:

Alabama shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: ‘Nobody would help me’

CrimeStoppers offering cash reward for information

Tuesday 18 April 2023 18:01 , Andrea Blanco

CrimeStoppers is offering a $5,000 cash reward for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the suspect involved in the Dadeville mass shooting.

Alabama law enforcement officers yesterday implored people to come forward with information about a shooting incident that killed four people and injured 28 others.

“We’ve got to have information from the community,” Sgt Jeremy Burkett said during a news conference.

Investigation continues as shooter still at large

Tuesday 18 April 2023 17:42 , Andrea Blanco

Alabama officials continued investigating a weekend shooting that killed four and injured 28 at a teenager’s birthday party.

Victims include Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, and Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, 17, who were identified by family members.

Also unclear is who may have started the shooting and why, or whether investigators have made any arrests.

Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency did not take questions during news conferences. Officials repeatedly asked others to come forward with information on the shooting.

No suspects named in Sweet 16 shooting attack

Tuesday 18 April 2023 17:15 , Andrea Blanco

Little information has come out officially about the shooting in the hours since it happened. A grisly photo — showing six people lying on the ground inside the dance studio next to the words “praying for Dadeville” — has emerged after the shooting, according to the broadcaster. First responders said they were aware of the shooting, and a group of social media users are trying to get the image removed.

Ben Haynes, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dadeville, said he spent the night with the families of the victims, according to ABC News.

Family members of the victims reportedly told Mr Haynes that an argument inside the party sparked the shooting, and that there were more than 50 people at the party when the violence broke out.

The situation is under active investigation by the ALEA’s State Bureau of Investigations, the Dadeville Police Department, and the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Mother and daughter recall Philstavious Dowdell’s final moments

Tuesday 18 April 2023 16:15 , Andrea Blanco

Speaking to CBS News reporter Omar Villafranca in Dadeville, Latonya Allen, the mother of the deceased Philstavious Dowdell and Alexis Dowdell, whose birthday party it was, has recalled the moment she and her daughter attempted to tend to her son’s wounds in distressing detail.

“[Alexis] got down on her knees and we’re holding him. He was just bloody,” she said.

“She was saying, you know, kept telling him, ‘Wake up, Phil, wake up.’ He was trying to say something, but by that time he couldn’t say anything else. And he stopped breathing.”

Ms Dowdell herself said her brother was “going in and out” of consciousness as they held him.

“And then when somebody from the ambulance had came in and they felt his pulse and they was like, ‘He’s gone.’ And then I was just like, ‘please don’t tell me that’.

“If it wasn’t for him, I mean, I don’t know where I’d be. I don’t know if I would still be standing here today if he would never save my life.”

Also speaking to CBS was Daquan Doss, a high school friend of Phil Dowdell, who said, with tears in his eyes: “I was standing right beside him. Next thing I know, they’re shooting on him. I think he went right into it. I went the opposite way. I wish I could’ve pulled him my way.”

Ms Allen had been chaperoning the party and had stopped the event at one point when rumours of guns on the premises began to circulate, turning on the lights and ordering anyone carrying a firearm to leave.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Tuesday 18 April 2023 16:00 , Andrea Blanco

A survivor of the mass shooting attended a vigil in her hospital gown just a day after the tragedy.

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

“The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didn’t get out and five minutes later the shooting started,” she said.

“I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didn’t know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.”Andrea Blanco reports.

How Alabama shooting victim Phil Dowdell died at his sister’s ‘Sweet 16'

Tuesday 18 April 2023 15:36 , Andrea Blanco

A high school star, who was among the victims of a mass shooting in Alabama, died while saving his sister’s life.

Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19, Corbin Holston, 23, and 17-year-old KeKe Nicole Smith have been named as the victims of the shooting in Dadeville where 28 others also sustained injuries.

Read more:

Alabama shooting victim Phil Dowdell died saving his sister’s life

Has the Alabama birthday party shooter been caught?

Tuesday 18 April 2023 15:16 , Andrea Blanco

Four victims were killed and 32 injured in a mass shooting at a ‘Sweet 16’ party in downtown Dadeville on Saturday night.

The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad has more:

Has the Alabama birthday party shooter been caught?

What do we know about the search for the shooter behind the Alabama birthday killings?

Tuesday 18 April 2023 15:00 , Joe Sommerlad

The small town of Dadeville, Alabama, is reeling from a mass shooting at a “Sweet 16” birthday party that left four people dead and 32 injured.

On the night of Saturday 15 April, revellers had gathered at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio – an unassuming brick building in downtown Dadeville, a town of around 3,000 residents roughly 45 miles north east of Mongomery – to wish happy birthday to Alexis Dowdell.

But a night of celebration turned to tragedy when guns were fired and four people lost their lives in the melee, among them the birthday girl’s beloved older brother.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is investigating the mass shooting but has so far remained tightlipped about both a suspect and a motive.

Here’s what has been said so far about the hunt for the shooter (or shooters).

Has the Alabama birthday party shooter been caught?

Watch: ‘They’re not fatalities, they’re lives tragically lost’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 14:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s an extract from Sergeant Jeremy Burkett’s brief press conference from Sunday, in which he warned that unravelling precisely what happened during the shooting on Saturday night would be “a long, complicated process” but pledged to deliver justice and pointedly emphasised that the victims should be thought of as lives lost, not mere fatality statistics.

Biden decries rampant gun violence after Alabama birthday shootings

Tuesday 18 April 2023 14:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Mourning the dead after his return from a four-day state visit to Ireland, US president Joe Biden responded to events in Dadeville over the weekend by saying in a statement: “What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theatre, or to the park?

“Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising – not declining. This is outrageous and unacceptable.”

He has since issued this tweet:

The incident came after mass shootings at a Christian elementary school in suburban Nashville, Tennessee, and at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, once more inspiring calls for America to introduce tighter gun control laws.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Tuesday 18 April 2023 13:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night straight from her hospital bed, The Montgomery Advertiser reported.

In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

“The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didn’t get out and five minutes later the shooting started,” she said.

“I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didn’t know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.”

Andrea Blanco has her story.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

The victims of the ‘Sweet 16’ shooting: From a high school football star to an aspiring musician

Tuesday 18 April 2023 13:00 , Joe Sommerlad

A mass shooting at a teen’s dance hall birthday party has hit every corner of Dadeville, a small city of just 3,200.

The Independent’s Andrea Blanco and Shweta Sharma report.

What we know about the victims of the Alabama ‘Sweet 16’ shooting

‘He tried to push me out the door’: How Alabama shooting victim Phil Dowdell died at his sister’s birthday party

Tuesday 18 April 2023 12:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Josh Marcus has this on the tragic death of a “hometown hero” with a bright future in college football.

Student bound for Division 1 football career among victims of Alabama party shooting

Republicans insist most gun violence happens in Democratic cities – the figures tell a different story

Tuesday 18 April 2023 12:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Data shows that gun violence, and gun violence deaths, are disproportionately concentrated in red America.

Here’s what you need to know about the political dynamics of gun violence in the US.

GOP says gun violence mostly happens in Democratic cities – the figures disagree

One in five Americans have lost a family member to gun violence

Tuesday 18 April 2023 11:30 , Joe Sommerlad

An astonishing 19 per cent of Americans have experienced the trauma of losing a relative to gun violence, according to a timely new study, arriving in the wake of the recent mass shootings in Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky.

The survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about the same number (21 per cent) of US adults said they had been personally threatened with a gun.

And one in six US adults (17 per cent) had directly witnessed someone being shot, according to the poll.

The Independent’s Bevan Hurley reports.

One in five Americans have lost a family member to gun violence

Shooting survivor gives interview from hospital bed

Tuesday 18 April 2023 11:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Brenazja Hutchinson, one of the 32 people injured in Dadeville, has given a brief interview to ABC’s Nightline from her hospital bed while she recuperates from her injuries.

“I would say this has definitely been a life-changing experience,” she says.

Recalling the moment she was shot on Saturday night, she says: “I was still inside the building yelling at them to help me, and nobody would help me so I had to gain my strength and walk outside after being shot.”

Paying tribute to Philstavious Dowdell, Ms Hutchinson says: “I feel like he didn’t serve that because he was innocent. He had just committed to going to college and he was a sweet boy and I feel so sorry for his sister.”

Mother and daughter recall Philstavious Dowdell’s final moments

Tuesday 18 April 2023 10:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Speaking to CBS News reporter Omar Villafranca in Dadeville, Latonya Allen, the mother of the deceased Philstavious Dowdell and Alexis Dowdell, whose birthday party it was, has recalled the moment she and her daughter attempted to tend to her son’s wounds in distressing detail.

“[Alexis] got down on her knees and we’re holding him. He was just bloody,” she said.

“She was saying, you know, kept telling him, ‘Wake up, Phil, wake up.’ He was trying to say something, but by that time he couldn’t say anything else. And he stopped breathing.”

Ms Dowdell herself said her brother was “going in and out” of consciousness as they held him.

“And then when somebody from the ambulance had came in and they felt his pulse and they was like, ‘He’s gone.’ And then I was just like, ‘please don’t tell me that’.

“If it wasn’t for him, I mean, I don’t know where I’d be. I don’t know if I would still be standing here today if he would never save my life.”

Also speaking to CBS was Daquan Doss, a high school friend of Phil Dowdell, who said, with tears in his eyes: “I was standing right beside him. Next thing I know, they’re shooting on him. I think he went right into it. I went the opposite way. I wish I could’ve pulled him my way.”

Ms Allen had been chaperoning the party and had stopped the event at one point when rumours of guns on the premises began to circulate, turning on the lights and ordering anyone carrying a firearm to leave.

Total number of Dadeville injured raised from 28 to 32, ALEA says

Tuesday 18 April 2023 10:00 , Joe Sommerlad

In its latest news release on the shooting published yesterday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) revealed that the number of people wounded in the attack on Alexis Dowdell’s birthday party was 32 and not 28 as it had previously stated.

The number of lives lost remains at four, it added.

“After conducting a preliminary analysis of the evidence at the scene, as well as reviewing the information that has been received so far, Special Agents are still in the process of gathering information relative to the sequence of events that ultimately led to the shooting,” the agency wrote.

“Special Agents did not recover any high-powered rifle ammunition at the scene; however, they did recover numerous shell casings used in handguns. Investigators are still processing all of the evidence, in conjunction with completing interviews, in an effort to solidify a motive and potential suspects.

“ALEA is asking for the public’s assistance in this case. If you or anyone you know has information regarding this incident, please contact SBI’s Crime information hotline at 1-800-392-8011 or email at sbi.investigations@alea.gov or contact Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 1-833-AL1-STOP or at www.215stop.com.”

Dadeville mayor appeals for calm: ‘It takes time to bring things together’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 09:30 , Joe Sommerlad

With the investigation into Saturday night’s killings ongoing, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said in a statement last night that handgun shell casings, but no high-powered rifle ammunition, had been recovered from the scene.

Officers have still not offered any information on precisely what happened inside the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio on Saturday night, nor named a suspected assailant (or, indeed, said whether there was more than one person involved).

Instead, they again assured the public their inquiries were ongoing and invited the public to come forward with helpful information.

Speaking to BBC News yesterday, town mayor Jimmy “Frank” Goodman said: “I understand why they are not putting out information. It just happened Saturday and today’s just Monday. It takes time to bring things together.

“The ones who were there, they aren’t talking [to anybody else] because the authorities are talking to them.

Likening the crime scene to a warzone, Mayor Goodman said: “It’s not grown-ups like it was in Vietnam, these are kids.

“They are schoolkids trying to graduate, trying to make their parents proud. It’s devastating.”

Dadeville High School is scheduled to hold its next graduation ceremony next month, but the institution is said to be revisiting its plans in light of the tragedy, with many students currently being offered counselling.

KeKe Nicole Smith mourned by family: ‘My heart is scattered’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 09:00 , Andrea Blanco

KeKe Nicole Smith, 18, the second person to have been identified as a victim of Saturday’s shooting, has been mourned by her cousin in an emotional Facebook post.

Smith was a volleyball player and team manager for the Dadeville High School track team, Michael Taylor, a coach at the institution, told The New York Times.

Amy Jackson, her cousin, confirmed her death on Facebook in the Dadeville shooting,

“My heart is scattered,” she wrote. “My lil cousin Ke... Please give our family respect during this time of bereavement Give us strength and understanding Mighty God. Praying for all loved ones that have lost their life or were injured.

“We love you Ke... it was a mass shooting in my hometown Dadeville Al... they took her from us.”

Alabama DJ says partygoers told someone had a gun

Tuesday 18 April 2023 08:00 , Andrea Blanco

Keenan Cooper, who was the DJ at the party when the gunfire broke out, said that prior to the shooting there were rumours afloat that someone in attendance had a gun.

“They mentioned someone had a gun,” Mr Cooper told WBMA.

“They stopped the party for a second, asked them to leave, nobody left and the party continued.”

An hour later, a gunman opened fire inside the Dadeville dance studio, killing at least four and injuring 28 others.

Mr Cooper said he helped teens hide under the table where he was doing his set. “I only tried to help who was in front of me, so I had a lot of people under the table and beside me trying to protect them,” he said.

“After everybody ran out, I made sure they were ok and that’s when I came out and the police arrived.”

The DJ earlier said that he didn’t hear a fight or disturbance prior to the shooting. “It’s really sad to see all the kids that were shot and the ones that are deceased,” he told CNN.

“And seeing all those bodies at the front door, all those kids are probably going to be traumatised.”

CrimeStoppers offering cash reward for information

Tuesday 18 April 2023 07:00 , Andrea Blanco

CrimeStoppers is offering a $5,000 cash reward for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the suspect involved in the Dadeville mass shooting.

Alabama law enforcement officers yesterday implored people to come forward with information about a shooting incident that killed four people and injured 28 others.

“We’ve got to have information from the community,” Sgt Jeremy Burkett said during a news conference.

Inquiry continues in Alabama shooting

Tuesday 18 April 2023 06:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Alabama officials continued investigating a weekend shooting that killed four and injured 28 at a teenager’s birthday party.

Victims include Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, and Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, 17, who were identified by family members.

Also unclear is who may have started the shooting and why, or whether investigators have made any arrests.

Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency did not take questions during news conferences. Officials repeatedly asked others to come forward with information on the shooting.

More here.

Inquiry continues in Alabama shooting that killed 4, hurt 28

Black children have the right not to be shot, says non-profit

Tuesday 18 April 2023 06:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A non-profit organisation that advocates against gun violence said Black Americans are twice as likely to die by firearm than compared to white Americans.

The statement comes in the wake of a mass shooting in Alabama and after a Black teen was shot in Texas.

“The Second Amendment does not protect the right to shoot a child for ringing a doorbell, nor was it designed to turn a birthday party into a war zone. Black children have the right not to be shot,” said Kris Brown, president of the gun-reform advocate group Brady.

“Black Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to die by firearm.“Gun violence is the number one killer of all American children and Black children in particular represent a disproportionate share of youth gunshot victims.”

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Tuesday 18 April 2023 05:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A survivor of the mass shooting attended a vigil in her hospital gown just a day after the tragedy.

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

“The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didn’t get out and five minutes later the shooting started,” she said.

“I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didn’t know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.”Andrea Blanco reports.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Alabama shooting: Everything we know about the Dadeville birthday party attack

Tuesday 18 April 2023 05:00 , Andrea Blanco

America has suffered another tragic outbreak of gun violence, this time at a “Sweet 16” birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama, in which four people were killed and a further 28 injured.

According to local police, the shooting began at around 10.34pm on Saturday (15 April) during a celebration held at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in downtown Dadeville, a small town of around 3,000 residents lying 45 miles north east of Montgomery.

The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad report:

Everything we know about the Alabama birthday party shooting

Birthday girl begged dying brother to ‘stay with me’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 04:57 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Alexis Dowdell’s ‘Sweet 16’ birthday party ended with her kneeling beside her fatally wounded brother on the floor of a dance studio in small-town Alabama after a mass shooting.

The shooting left her 18-year-old brother, Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, and three others dead, along with another 28 injured, some critically.

“I got on my knees and he was laying face down. And that’s when I grabbed him. I turned him over, I was holding him,” Alexis told Associated Press.

“I wasn’t crying at the moment because I was trying to be strong instead of panicking. And so I said, ‘You’re going to be all right. You’re a fighter, you’re strong.”

Alexis said she dove to the floor near the DJ as the crowd began to run.

She “didn’t know where to run,” in part because shots seemed to come from multiple directions.

When there was a break in the gunfire, Alexis bolted for the front door. But someone pushed her. It was her brother, trying to protect her, she said.

“I guess he tried to push me out the door as fast as he could, but I ended up slipping on blood, because it was a whole bunch of blood on the floor,” she added.

Some survivors in ‘critical state’

Tuesday 18 April 2023 04:00 , Andrea Blanco

Law enforcement officers say some of the injured remained in hospital on Sunday in critical condition.

According to Ivy Creek Healthcare, which oversees the Lake Martin Community Hospital, a total of 15 teenage patients were treated at that facility.

Six of those patients were later discharged. Nine were transferred to other hospitals, four in stable condition and five in critical condition, WSFA 12 reported.

“This is a fluid situation. We have been getting continuous updates throughout the day,” said Sgt Jeremy Burkett.

“We are going through that process right now. We are going through a very methodical way, we are not going to rush. We are going to do exactly what we need to do to ensure justice.”

Local politicians react to Dadeville shooting

Tuesday 18 April 2023 03:00 , Andrea Blanco

Governor Kay Ivey acknowledged the shooting on social media.

“This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians,” she wrote. “Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge.”

Dadeville’s mayor, Jimmy Goodman, said that the residents were “in shock” and that they were “doing our best to cope with it”.

“We’re just trying to make do,” he told the news outlet.

The mass shooting is the latest in a violent spring across the US south. In late March, a woman shot and six people at a private school in Nashville, including three 9-year-old children. A few weeks later a mass shooter in Louisville, Kentucky, killed six people and injured nine others at his workplace.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Tuesday 18 April 2023 02:00 , Andrea Blanco

A survivor of the Dadeville, Alabama, mass shooting attended a vigil in her hospital gown just a day after the tragedy.

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

The Independent has more:

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Community needs answers on shooting, mayor says

Tuesday 18 April 2023 01:00 , Andrea Blanco

Dadeville mayor Jimmy “Frank” Goodman, who has lived in the city for 53 years and held his current office since 2020, said on Sunday that the town needed answers about the events of Saturday night, with law enforcement so far offering very little information about the suspect or their possible motives.

“The community probably wants to make sure there’s no one around here that’s going to keep doing this,” he told AL.com.

“They want to find out whether it was someone from another town or someone who was passing through. Their minds want to be settled that it wasn’t someone from here, or even from the next town.”

He was asked what it will take for Dadeville to recover from the tragedy.

”It’s going to take prayer,” he answered.

“It’s going to take Dadeville coming together as one and helping one another out. We do that, and we keep God first then I’m sure God will bring us through it.”

Mayor Goodman has previously explained how he was woken up late on Saturday night by a call from a council member telling called him about the shooting. He said he went to Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville, where some of the people who had been shot were taken.

“It was chaotic,” he said of the scene he encountered there.

“There were people running around. They were crying and screaming. There were police cars everywhere, there were ambulances everywhere. People were trying to find out about their loved ones. That was a scene, where we never had anything like this happen in our city before.”

He also said that guns and violence are not a frequent part of life in Dadeville, adding, pessimistically, that trying to control guns would prove as futile as trying to control illegal drugs.

Guns are the leading killer of children in America, White House says

Tuesday 18 April 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting, the White House said on Sunday, adding that it is closely monitoring the situation and has been in touch with local officials.

“What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theater, or to the park?” president Biden said in a statement yesterday.

“Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising - not declining. This is outrageous and unacceptable.”

The president called on Congress to “require safe storage of firearms, require background checks for all gun sales, eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

No suspects named in Sweet 16 shooting attack

Monday 17 April 2023 23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Little information has come out officially about the shooting in the hours since it happened. A grisly photo — showing six people lying on the ground inside the dance studio next to the words “praying for Dadeville” — has emerged after the shooting, according to the broadcaster. First responders said they were aware of the shooting, and a group of social media users are trying to get the image removed.

Ben Haynes, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dadeville, said he spent the night with the families of the victims, according to ABC News.

Family members of the victims reportedly told Mr Haynes that an argument inside the party sparked the shooting, and that there were more than 50 people at the party when the violence broke out.

The situation is under active investigation by the ALEA’s State Bureau of Investigations, the Dadeville Police Department, and the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Tallapoosa County schools to offer students counselling after massacre

Monday 17 April 2023 21:58 , Andrea Blanco

Raymond C Porter, school district superintendent for Tallapoosa County, said local institutions would offer counselling to students from today in response to Saturday’s deadly violence.

Dadeville High School, which the victims we know about so far attended, had 485 students in grades 6-12 in 2022, according to Alabama state data.

It serves Dadeville and nearby parts of Tallapoosa County. Like the rest of Dadeville, it’s tucked away just out of view off a busy highway that runs from Birmingham to Auburn.

The school’s head football coach, Roger McDonald, mourning Dowdell, said he would try his best to support grieving students in the wake of the tragedy.

“There’s not a playbook for something like this,” he said.

“So the best you’ve got to do is just love on your kids, let them all know how much you care about them, be there for them.”

Who are the victims of the Alabama ‘Sweet 16’ shooting?

Monday 17 April 2023 20:58 , Andrea Blanco

Dadeville, Alabama, became the latest community in the US to be rocked by gun violence after a mass shooting erupted during a Sweet 16 birthday party.

Four victims, aged 17 to 23, were killed and more than two dozen people wounded on Saturday night. Very few details have been shared about the shooting as of Monday evening, including a possible motive behind the attack, and nearly 48 hours after the violence, the shooter or shooters remain at large.

The tragedy has hit every corner in the small city of just 3,200, Amy Jackson told The Independent on Monday. Ms Jackson’s cousin Keke Nicole Smith is among the victims killed — and she has at least two other loved ones recovering in hospital. Her fiancé’s nephew Corbin Holston was also killed during the attack.

“It’s still fresh. It hasn’t sunk in that this is really happening. It’s a close-knitted community, people know everybody. ‘Your kids are our kids’ type of community,” Ms Jackson said. “And it’s just hard to believe that something like that, that we normally see on TV ... is our reality.”

The Independent has more:

What we know about the victims of the Alabama ‘Sweet 16’ shooting

Victims 'just wanted to enjoy the birthday party’

Monday 17 April 2023 20:26 , Andrea Blanco

Community members are speaking out about the Alabama shooting.

“This is a small community and they just wanted to enjoy the birthday party,” Annette Allen told Troy Public Radio. “We had to be standing and waiting for bodies to brought out.”

Her granddaughter’s birthday party at a dance studio in Dadeville, Alabama, was the scene of the shooting on Saturday, where four people were killed.

Phil Dowdell, her grandson, was among those killed in the violence.

Alabama DJ says partygoers told someone had a gun

Monday 17 April 2023 19:49 , Andrea Blanco

Keenan Cooper, who was the DJ at the party when the gunfire broke out, said that prior to the shooting there were rumours afloat that someone in attendance had a gun.

“They mentioned someone had a gun,” Mr Cooper told WBMA.

“They stopped the party for a second, asked them to leave, nobody left and the party continued.”

An hour later, a gunman opened fire inside the Dadeville dance studio, killing at least four and injuring 28 others.

Mr Cooper said he helped teens hide under the table where he was doing his set. “I only tried to help who was in front of me, so I had a lot of people under the table and beside me trying to protect them,” he said.

“After everybody ran out, I made sure they were ok and that’s when I came out and the police arrived.”

The DJ earlier said that he didn’t hear a fight or disturbance prior to the shooting. “It’s really sad to see all the kids that were shot and the ones that are deceased,” he told CNN.

“And seeing all those bodies at the front door, all those kids are probably going to be traumatised.”

How many mass shootings have there been in 2023?

Monday 17 April 2023 19:13 , Andrea Blanco

Among high-income countries around the world, the United States has for years stood out for one reason: its rate of gun violence.

Over the last decade, among relatively wealthy countries with populations of 10m or more, the rate of gun violence in the US has far surpassed that of any other nation. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the adjusted firearm homicide rate in the US is 22 times that of the European Union and more than that of Asian countries like Japan and the Republic of Korea.

This year is on track to be no different.

According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, there have as of mid-April already been 149 mass shootings in the US — with gun violence claiming lives in every state in the country.

The Independent’s Abe Asher reports:

How many mass shootings have there been in 2023?

Mayor describes scenes at the hospital after shooting

Monday 17 April 2023 18:44 , Andrea Blanco

Dadeville mayor Jimmy “Frank” Goodman said he was in bed asleep when a council member called him just before 11pm on Saturday.

He said he went to Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville, where some of the people who had been shot were taken.

“It was chaotic,” Mr Goodman said.

“There were people running around. They were crying and screaming. There were police cars everywhere, there were ambulances everywhere. People were trying to find out about their loved ones.

“That was a scene, where we never had anything like this happen in our city before.”

The mayor described Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell as a good man. Dowdell was one of the four victims of the mass shooting.

Mayor Goodman added he is concerned about those wounded and psychologically traumatised by the shooting.

“We are praying for them. We ask God, if it’s his will, to bring them back to their parents safe, so they can mend.”

From a college football star to an aspiring musician: These are the victims of the Dadeville ‘Sweet 16’ shooting

Monday 17 April 2023 18:24 , Andrea Blanco

A Sweet 16 birthday party for a girl at a dance studio in Alabama turned into a mass shooting, leaving four dead and at least 28 injured.

Gunfire erupted at roughly 10.34pm local time on Saturday at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio in downtown Dadeville, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said on Sunday.

What we know about the victims of the Dadeville shooting

Pro-gun Alabama governor criticised

Monday 17 April 2023 17:45 , Andrea Blanco

Kay Ivey, the governor of Alabama, was criticised after she tweeted “violent crime has no place in our state” in the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting where four people were killed.

“This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians,” the Republican governor wrote yesterday.

“Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge.”

The governor’s condolence message was met with criticism on social media by those calling for gun reforms.

Ms Ivey, a pro-gun Republican, signed legislation last year ending a requirement to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.

Her candidacy for the governor election was also reportedly endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

“It’s on your hands, Kay,” tweeted author John Pavlovitz.

Fourth victim arrived at the party ‘out of concern'

Monday 17 April 2023 17:19 , Andrea Blanco

Corbin Holston, 23, has been identified as the fourth fatal victim in Saturday’s shooting.

He did not attend the party but rushed to the scene after a family member texted him that there was “a serious concern.”

“Out of concern for other family members, Corbin responded to the party to ensure their safety but unfortunately encountered the suspects,’’ his mom Janett Heard told AL.com.

“Corbin was selfless when it came to his family and friends and always tried to be a protector,’’ Heard said. “That’s just the type of person he was.”

Joe Biden decries rampant gun violence

Monday 17 April 2023 16:55 , Andrea Blanco

Mourning the dead after his return from a four-day state visit to Ireland, US president Joe Biden said: “What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theatre, or to the park?

“Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising – not declining. This is outrageous and unacceptable.”

The incident comes after mass shootings at a Christian elementary school in suburban Nashville, Tennessee, and at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, once more inspiring calls for America to introduce tighter gun control laws.

‘They just wanted to enjoy the birthday party’

Monday 17 April 2023 16:41 , Andrea Blanco

Community members are speaking out about the Alabama shooting.

“This is a small community and they just wanted to enjoy the birthday party,” Annette Allen told Troy Public Radio. “We had to be standing and waiting for bodies to brought out.”

Her granddaughter’s birthday party at a dance studio in Dadeville, Alabama, was the scene of the shooting on Saturday, where four people were killed.

Phil Dowdell, her grandson, was among those killed in the violence.

Investigation continues in Alabama shooting that killed 4, hurt 28

Monday 17 April 2023 16:13 , Andrea Blanco

Alabama officials continued investigating a weekend shooting that killed four and injured 28 at a teenager’s birthday party.

Victims include Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, and Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, 17, who were identified by family members on Sunday.

The Saturday night shooting took place at a birthday party for Dowdell’s sister at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio in Dadeville. It’s not clear how many of the 28 injured were shot.

Also unclear is who may have started the shooting and why, or whether investigators have made any arrests. Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency did not take questions during news conferences Sunday. Officials repeatedly asked others to come forward with information on the shooting.

No suspects named in Sweet 16 shooting attack

Monday 17 April 2023 15:50 , Andrea Blanco

Little information has come out officially about the shooting in the hours since it happened. A grisly photo — showing six people lying on the ground inside the dance studio next to the words “praying for Dadeville” — has emerged after the shooting, according to the broadcaster. First responders said they were aware of the shooting, and a group of social media users are trying to get the image removed.

Ben Haynes, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dadeville, said he spent the night with the families of the victims, according to ABC News.

Family members of the victims reportedly told Mr Haynes that an argument inside the party sparked the shooting, and that there were more than 50 people at the party when the violence broke out.

The situation is under active investigation by the ALEA’s State Bureau of Investigations, the Dadeville Police Department, and the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Office.

WATCH: ‘They’re not fatalities, they’re lives tragically lost’

Monday 17 April 2023 15:35 , Andrea Blanco

Here’s an extract from Sergeant Jeremy Burkett’s brief press conference yesterday, in which he warned that unravelling precisely what happened during the shooting on Saturday night would be “a long, complicated process” but pledged to deliver justice and pointedly emphasised that the victims should be thought of as lives lost, not mere fatality statistics.

ICYMI: Everything we know about the Dadeville birthday party attack

Monday 17 April 2023 15:17 , Andrea Blanco

America has suffered another tragic outbreak of gun violence, this time at a “Sweet 16” birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama, in which four people were killed and a further 28 injured.

According to local police, the shooting began at around 10.34pm on Saturday night during a celebration held at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in downtown Dadeville, a small town of around 3,000 residents lying 45 miles northeast of Montgomery.

The Independent’s Joe Sommerland reports:

Everything we know about the Alabama shooting

Honours student and stellar football player among fatal victims

Monday 17 April 2023 14:54 , Andrea Blanco

An honours student at Dadeville High School, Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, was identified as one of the victims of the shooting by family members.

He was celebrating his sister’s birthday before he was shot dead, his grandmother Annette Allen told the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper.

The high school senior was a stellar football player and had committed to Jacksonville State University.

The Jacksonville State Football team issued a statement mourning the loss of the would-be member of their programme.

“Our Thoughts and prayers are with the family of Philstavious Dowdell and the other victims of the senseless tragedy last night,” tweeted Rich Rodriguez, the head coach of the team.

“He was a great young man with a bright future. My staff and I are heartbroken and hope that everyone will support his family through this difficult time.”

Ms Allen described him as a “very humble child” who always had a smile on his face.

“He was a very, very humble child. Never messed with anybody. Always had a smile on his face,” Ms Allen told the newspaper, calling it “a million-dollar smile”.

“Everybody’s grieving.”

Pastor Ben Hayes, who serves as the team chaplain for the local high school football team, said he was weeks away from graduation and had a bright future.

“He was a strong competitor on the field,” Mr Hayes said. “You didn’t want to try to tackle him or get tackled by him. But when he came off the field, he was one of the nicest young men that you could ever meet, very respectful and well-respected by his peers.”

In which states do mass shootings most frequently occur?

Monday 17 April 2023 14:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Data shows that gun violence, and gun violence deaths, are disproportionately concentrated in red America.

Here’s what you need to know about the political dynamics of gun violence in the US.

GOP says gun violence mostly happens in Democratic cities – the figures disagree

Local politicians react to Dadeville shooting

Monday 17 April 2023 14:17 , Andrea Blanco

Governor Kay Ivey acknowledged the shooting on social media.

“This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians,” she wrote. “Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge.”

Dadeville’s mayor, Jimmy Goodman, said that the residents were “in shock” and that they were “doing our best to cope with it”.

“We’re just trying to make do,” he told the news outlet.

The mass shooting is the latest in a violent spring across the US south. In late March, a woman shot and six people at a private school in Nashville, including three 9-year-old children. A few weeks later a mass shooter in Louisville, Kentucky, killed six people and injured nine others at his workplace.