Alabama town mourns after 4 killed at teen birthday party

Dadeville — Students in the small town of Dadeville, Alabama, wore black and gold school uniforms Monday to mourn that their two seniors were among the four young people killed in the shooting. Sweet 16 birthday party over the weekend.

Less than six weeks after graduation, faculty, staff, and students turned in past flags at half-staff to meet counselors waiting to talk about the shooting. He also injured 28 people at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio outside Courthouse Square. With 485 students in grades 6 through 12, the school is the center of community life in Dadeville, population 3,200, with a water tower painted “Home of the Tigers” and a local business claiming, “This is It has a sign proclaiming “Tiger Country”.

Investigators were trying to piece together what happened at a party where the dance studio’s windows were riddled with bullet holes. He said he was doing

“It’s going to be a tough time for graduation and for these kids,” said Heidi Smith, spokesperson for the 46-bed Lake Martin Community Hospital, which treated many victims. We are here for them and their families.”

The weekend was marked by a series of high-profile shootings in the United States. Two people were killed and four injured in Louisville, Missouri, on Saturday. In another result in Los Angeles he had four men shot and one dead. A third injured her two women at Lincoln University in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Dadeville locals were quick to say such violence was not a hallmark of their community, but gun deaths are more common in Alabama than elsewhere.According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The state had the fifth-highest gun death rate in the nation in 2020.

It is not clear if all 28 people injured in Dadeville were shot or if there were other injuries. More were transported to other facilities.

The murdered was identified as Opelika’s Marsiah Emmanuel “Shea” Collins, 19. Corbin Darmontory Halston, 23, of Dadeville. Coroner Mike Knox, his girlfriend, Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, of Camp Hill and her girlfriend, Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, 17, of Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, told his Associated Press on Monday. rice field. Relatives identified Dowdell and Smith on Sunday.

It is still unclear who started the shooting, why, or if investigators made any arrests. Sergeant Alabama Law Enforcement Officer Jeremy Burkett did not take questions at a press conference on Sunday. Officials repeatedly asked others to provide information about the shooting.

Much of the public eye focused on Dowdell, who played wide receiver for the Dadeville High football team on Friday nights and Saturdays in the fall in football-dominated states. The Tigers were undefeated in the regular season last year before losing in the playoffs.

The shooting happened at his sister’s birthday party.

Assistant coach Michael Taylor said he met Dowdell when he was nine and coached youth football. The Tigers were invited to Atlanta to play at the stadium used by the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL.

“He did some great things there, and he’s never stopped doing it since,” Taylor said of Dowdell, who also played basketball and was a standout on the track. was the best athlete in school.”

Another senior, Antophan Woody, grew up with Dowdell at nearby Camp Hill and was a fellow Tigers wide receiver. The two were lifelong friends.

Woody said it hurt when friends and teammates came up to hug him during Sunday’s prayer vigil.

Woody said he and Dowdell have a special relationship on the football field. celebrated.”

Keenan Cooper, the DJ at the party where the shooting took place, told WBMA-TV that the event was temporarily called off when attendees heard someone with a gun. He said people with guns were asked to leave, but none did.

The shooting, which Mayor Frank Goodman said was a “chaotic” scene Saturday at a small town hospital where paramedics, relatives and friends were swarming, Smith said. While treated and released, others were transferred to larger hospitals in Birmingham, Alabama, Montgomery, Opelika, and Columbus, Georgia.