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Sunday, June 4, 2023 | 
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At least 4 people killed in shooting at ‘Sweet 16’ party in Alabama

About 40 or 50 teenagers were in attendance at the birthday party on Saturday night, 28 were transported to the hospital with 5 in critical condition and 4 dead. The small town of Dadeville mourns

By Rebecca Olds
SHARE At least 4 people killed in shooting at ‘Sweet 16’ party in Alabama
A woman embraces Dadeville High School football player Antojuan Woody at a prayer vigil outside First Baptist Church in Dadeville, Ala.

A woman embraces Dadeville High School football player Antojuan Woody at a prayer vigil on Sunday, April 16, 2023, outside First Baptist Church in Dadeville, Ala. Alabama law enforcement officers were imploring people to come forward with information about a shooting that killed multiple people and injured over two dozen others during a teenager’s birthday party on Saturday, April 15.

Jeff Amy, Associated Press

At least four people were killed and 28 injured in a shooting at a birthday party in Alabama Saturday night, officials said.

Dadeville is a small town about an hour northeast of Montgomery, on the coast of Lake Martin that is home to about 3,000 residents, reported The Associated Press.

At 10:34 p.m. on Saturday night, a teenager from Dadeville High School was having a 16th birthday party when gunfire rang through the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio, reported The New York Times. The police have not released any details about the shooter as of Monday morning.

There were 40 to 50 people in attendance at the party, DJ Keenan Cooper told local ABC affiliate WBMA. Cooper said that he tried to project partygoers by hiding them behind his equipment table.

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

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Four were killed in the shooting, and at least 15 teenagers were transported to the local Lake Martin Community Hospital, a hospital spokesperson told The New York Times. From there, nine were transferred to larger hospitals for a higher level of care, and five of those nine are in critical condition.

An interfaith vigil was held Sunday at the First Baptist Church of the area by Pastor Jason Whetstone, leader of the Christian Faith Fellowship, reported The Associated Press.

“All of our hearts are hurting right now,” Pastor Whetstone said at the vigil, per AP. “We’re just trying to pull together to find strength and comfort.”

Although not much has been released on the victims of the shooting, Pastor Ben Hayes, the chaplain for the Dadeville Police Department, says that most — if not all — were teenagers from Dadeville High School, per CNN.

“It’s a very close, tight-knit community, everybody knows everybody,” Hayes told CNN. ”That’s why this is so difficult — I knew these kids personally, most people did.”

The county police department of Tallapoosa is asking anyone with information about the shooter to call a hotline, which they linked to in a tweet Monday morning.

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