Alabama shooting – update: Six suspects including boy, 15, arrested over Dadeville Sweet 16 party attack
It is unclear how many suspects are being sought in the April 15 ‘Sweet 16’ shooting
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Six suspects have now been arrested over the mass shooting at a “Sweet 16” birthday party that left four people dead and 32 injured in Dadeville, Alabama.
On Thursday, authorities announced that three more suspects were taken into custody including a 15-year-old who has not been named due to his age, Johnny Letron Brown, 20, and Willie George Brown Jr., 19.
The arrests bring the total number of people arrested over the shooting to six after the earlier arrests of Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20, and brothers Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16.
All six have been charged with four counts of reckless murder.
The latest arrests come five days after the horror attack at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio on Saturday night.
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 birthday celebration it was.
Shaunkivia Nicole “KeKe” Smith, 17, Marsiah Collins, 19, and Corbin Holston, 23, were also killed.
No motive has been outlined by the police.
Sixth suspect taken into custody - reports
District attorney Mike Segrest yesterday evening said a sixth suspect, a 15-year-old, was taken into custody, AL reported.
Mr Segrest, however, did not identify the suspect or say where the suspect lived.
Victim’s mother asked attendees with guns to leave party before shooting unfolded
Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, told CBS News that Phil and Alexis Dowdell’s mother had ordered anyone with a gun to leave the party just moments before the shooting unfolded.
“The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didn’t get out and five minutes later the shooting started,” Ms Cox 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.”
Authorities said earlier this week that they did not recover any high-powered rifle ammunition at the scene. They did find numerous shell casings used in handguns.
Man with same name as one of alleged Dadeville shooter receives threats
Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and his 16-year-old brother Travis McCullough were arrested by the Alabama police in connection with the Dadeville shooting where four people lost their lives.
However, a 36-year-old man, who is also named Travis McCullough, has been receiving threatening and hateful messages on social media.
“I’ve been scared to go outside just because of the messages and comments I’ve been seeing,” Mr McCullough told Montgomery Advertiser.
Mr McCullough works as a delivery driver and lives 40 miles northeast in the valley. He initially began deleting the hate comments and DMs but later realised he might need proof of the threats if something bad were to happen.
“I’ve been cautious about that all day,” he said. “Just know, I’m not the one that did it.”
Everything we know about the Dadeville shooting
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.
Joe Sommerlad reports.
Everything we know about the Alabama birthday party shooting
High school students Philstavious ‘Phil’ Dowdell and KeKe Nicole Smith among four killed in incident during Saturday night celebration at Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio
Victims of the Alabama birthday shooting: A college football star to an aspiring musician
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 cousin 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.”
Read more:
What we know about the victims of the Alabama ‘Sweet 16’ shooting
A mass shooting at a teen’s dance hall birthday party has hit every corner of Dadeville, a small city of just 3,200. Andrea Blanco and Shweta Sharma report
Victim Phil Dowdell died saving sister’s life
A high school star, who was among the victims of a mass shooting in Alabama, died while saving his sister’s life.
The shooting took place on Saturday night during the ‘Sweet 16’ birthday party of Phil Dowdell’s sister, Alexis, at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio.
Dowdell pushed his sister to the ground as soon as gunfire erupted at around 10.34pm inside the dance studio. “I guess he tried to push me out the door as fast as he could,” Alexis told the Associated Press.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.
Alabama shooting victim Phil Dowdell died saving his sister’s life
The shooting took place at the ‘Sweet 16’ birthday party of Dowdell’s sister, Alexis
PICTURED: Five of the six suspects in mugshots
Who is the sixth suspect?
Six suspects have now been arrested over the mass shooting at a “Sweet 16” birthday party that left four people dead and 32 injured in Dadeville, Alabama.
On Thursday, authorities announced that three more suspects were taken into custody including Johnny Letron Brown, 20, and Willie George Brown Jr., 19.
The third suspect is a 15-year-old who has not been named due to his age.
Motive for the shooting still not released by authorities
Six suspects have now been charged over the mass shooting at a “Sweet 16” birthday party in Alabama.
The motive for the attack remains unknown.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency declined to discuss how investigators believe the shooting unfolded.
“We can’t get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation,” he said.
“We can’t share that.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the agency still has not provided any additional information about the motive.
Suspect’s mother insists he’s innocent
The mother of one of the six suspects arrested for murder has insisted he is innocent.
Johnny Letron Brown was arrested on Thursday and charged with four counts of murder over the Sweet 16 party shooting.
His mother Amanda Riley told NBC News her son didn’t carry out the shooting, saying he is about to go to Faulkner University to play NAIA football.
“He didn’t do any shooting. When the firearms started firing off, he got down on the floor,” she said.
“My kids don’t carry weapons, I’m going to tell you that right now. The FBI just searched my house. They couldn’t find one weapon in my house. They didn’t find one bullet in my house and in my shed out back.”