Police have arrested two teenagers and charged them with murder over a shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama. The shooting left four people dead and 32 injured. The suspects are Ty Reik McCullough, 17 and Travis McCullough, 16, from Tuskegee, a town around 30 miles south of Dadeville. Despite being minors, they will be prosecuted as adults.
The authorities have given no information about the shooters’ possible motive for the deadly rampage, whose victims were mostly in their teens. Among those killed was 18-year-old Philstavious Dowdell, who had received a scholarship to play football at Jacksonville State University.
After the arrests, ALEA Sergeant Jeremy Burkett pleaded for members of the public who were at the party to come forward with any information they had witnessed. There has been criticism from the public for the delay in releasing details about the violence and whether any suspects were on the loose.
This shooting is one of several mass shootings in recent days to plague a nation that is awash in firearms and endures tens of thousands of shooting deaths every year. America’s gun violence epidemic has shown no signs of easing.
