Four persons have been reportedly shot dead in a Saturday night shooting at a birthday party in Alabama, United States of America.
Local authorities also revealed that 28 people, mostly teenagers were also injured in the incident that occured at a Sweet 16 party at a dance studio in Dadeville, a small-town northeast of the state capital Montgomery.
“There were four lives tragically lost in this incident, and there’s been a multitude of injuries,” Sergeant Jeremy Burkett, a spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, told reporters Sunday.
Later, he added that 28 people were hurt, some critically, and he pleaded for locals to come forward with any details they might know about the attack.
However, Burkett did not elaborate on the circumstances or motivations for the shooting.
Annette Allen told the Montgomery Advertiser that her grandson Phil Dowdell was one of the victims; he was at his sister Alexis’s 16th birthday celebration when shots rang out, killing him and several others.
“He was a very, very humble child. Never messed with anybody. Always had a smile on his face,” Allen said of her grandson, a high school senior and football player due to graduate within weeks.
“Everybody’s grieving,” Allen said of the small community of some 3,000 residents.
After being briefed on the incident, President Joe Biden expressed the nation’s sadness at yet another shooting death of a young person in the United States.
“What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear?” Biden, who has long sought tighter gun safety measures, asked in a statement.
“Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising — not declining,” he added. “This is outrageous and unacceptable,” he added.
