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Four people were killed in a shooting in east Alabama on Saturday night at a dance studio during a teenager’s birthday party and multiple people left injured, police said.
WRBL, a local news station, reported that the shooting happened at about 10.30pm Saturday night at a 16th birthday party in Dadeville, about 50 miles north-east of Montgomery.
Pastor Ben Hayes, who serves as the chaplain for the Dadeville police department and for the local high school football team, said most of the victims are teenagers . He said the shooting has rocked the small town where serious crime is rare.
“One of the young men that was killed was one of our star athletes and just a great guy. So I knew many of these students. Dadeville is a small town and this is going to affect everybody in this area,” Hayes said.
It was not immediately known if a suspect was in custody.
The Alabama law enforcement agency confirmed the fatalities in a statement early Sunday announcing its special agents and the local sheriff’s office were investigating the shooting at the request of the Dadeville police chief: “The investigation is a result of a shooting which occurred at approximately 10.34pm near the 200 Block of Broadnax Street in Dadeville, located in Tallapoosa county. Currently, there have been four confirmed fatalities and multiple injuries.”
Investigators believe an altercation had led to the shooting at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio, WRBL reported.
“It was tied to a birthday party,” Sgt Jeremy Burkett, of the Alabama law enforcement agency, said. “There were four lives tragically lost in this incident, and there’s been a multitude of injuries.”
Jonathan Floyd, chief of Dadeville police, said at a news conference: “What we’ve dealt with is something that no community should have to endure. I just ask for your patience. It’s going to be a long process, but I do earnestly solicit your prayers.”
More than 12 hours after the shooting, investigators continued filing in and out of the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio on Sunday.
City and county officials milled about the Tallapoosa county courthouse less than a block away, where officials lowered the American and Alabama flags to half staff.
“This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians,” Kay Ivey, the governor of Alabama, said on Twitter.
“Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge.”
In 2022 Ivey signed a bill into law which ended the requirement for a person to get a permit to legally carry a concealed handgun in public. The National Rifle Association (NRA) had lobbied for the bill to be passed.
In an ad for her re-election campaign last year, Ivey touted her gun-friendly approach, describing the second amendment as “sacred”. In the advert Ivey was shown withdrawing a handgun from her purse.
Alabama has the third highest rate of gun deaths in the US, according to a 2020 report by Everytown, an organization which works to improve gun safety and end gun violence.
The shooting comes as two people were killed in a shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday night, days after a gunman shot and killed five people in the city.
Associated Press reported that an unidentified suspect fired a gun into a crowd of hundreds in Chickasaw Park in Louisville, killing two people and wounding four others.
On Monday five people were killed when a man opened fire with an assault-style rifle at the Louisville bank where he worked. Eight others were wounded.
“This has been an unspeakable week of tragedy for our city,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said at the scene of the shooting on Saturday night.
“On Monday, we lost five of our fellow citizens to a horrific act of workplace gun violence,” Greenberg said.
“And now, five days later, we’re at another scene of a reckless act of gun violence.”
English (US)