Dadeville shooting 2023: Investigators in Dadeville, Alabama, are still trying to piece together what led to the Dadeville shooting that killed four people and injured at least 28 others at a Sweet 16 party over the weekend.
Dadeville Shooting 2023
The Dadeville shootings began around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, although authorities have not yet released any information on a suspect or suspected motive.
DJ Keenan Cooper and Dadeville High School football team chaplain Ben Hayes confirmed that Philstavious Dowdell, the birthday girl’s brother, was among those slain when gunfire erupted at the party.
Assistant football coach Michael Taylor claims that in the weeks leading up to the Dadeville shooting, Dowdell confided in him, “If anything ever occurs to me, even when I go to college, please take care of my 2 sisters.”
According to Taylor and Amy Jackson, who claims to be Smith’s cousin, Keke Smith, a high school senior, was also murdered.
Sgt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency reported that dozens of partygoers had “a wide variety of injuries” in the Dadeville shooting and that some remained in serious condition as of Sunday afternoon.
Dadeville Police Department Chaplain and local preacher Hayes spent Saturday night consoling students and family who had gathered at the hospital where numerous casualties were being treated.
In this small town, everyone seems to know each other. That’s why it’s so tough to do this.” As he continued, “I knew these kids myself, most people did.”
Teneeshia Goodman-Johnson, a member of the city council in Dadeville, told a CNN station that the community’s priority should be comforting grieving pupils.
According to Johnson’s interview with WAKA, “Their physical, mental, and emotional health is my priority right now.” As in, “We need to make sure that they are okay.”
Burkett has stated that inquiries into the Dadeville shooting are still ongoing.
The sergeant also requested that anyone with information regarding the event contact the police.
Less than two hours before the Dadeville event, two individuals had been murdered and four others wounded in a shooting at a busy park in Louisville, Kentucky. The Gun Bloodshed Archive reports that after this weekend’s bloodshed, there have been more mass shootings in 2023 than there have been days in the year: almost 160.
the archive considers an incident to be a mass shooting if four or more persons (excluding the perpetrator) are killed.
On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden released a statement in response to the shootings in Dadeville and Louisville, in which he expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and renewed his demand for Congress to pass gun control legislation.
When kids are afraid to go to a birthday party, what has happened to our country? When parents have to fret every time their children leave the house for places like school, the theater, and the park. Biden stated.
Our current understanding of the victims of the Dadeville Shooting
Several friends who knew Dowdell have confirmed that he was one of the deceased and characterized him as a beloved student-athlete with tremendous potential, even though officials have not yet released the names of those slain.
Taylor, who claims to have coached Dowdell ever since he was 9 years old, exclaims of him, “Anything put in his hand, God gifted him to be able to do it.”
Cooper added that Dowdell was about to graduate in a few weeks and had obtained a football scholarship to play at Jacksonville State University in Alabama.
Jacksonville State’s head coach, Rich Rodriguez, praised Dowdell in a statement released on Sunday, calling him “a wonderful young man with a bright future.”
Saying, “Our prayers and thoughts are with the relatives and friends of Philstavious Dowdell and all of the victims of the tragedy last night,” Rodriguez expressed his condolences to the victims’ loved ones.
The municipal councilwoman, Johnson, claimed to have known Dowdell and the two of the other victims, both of whom she called “very bright futures.”
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The children are “very athletic, extremely modest, and extremely polite,” as noted by Johnson.
Jackson identified a second victim, KeKe Smith, as her cousin, saying the student was “always smiling.” Jackson stated that Smith’s mother informed her of her cousin’s passing.
In his final year of high school, Smith had already been accepted to the University of Alabama. Taylor added that Smith was the student sports manager for the Dadeville High School track team and confirmed her death.
In the Dadeville shooting, some people were seriously hurt
Several hospitals received victims from the shooting, with at least 15 minors being transferred to Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville.
Hospital spokesperson Heidi Smith said on Sunday that six of the injured had been treated and released, while the remaining nine had been moved to other facilities. Five of the teenagers were in serious condition and four were stable as of the most recent check-in.
Spokesperson Susan Foy said nearby Alexander City’s Russell Medical Center “received multiple patients” after the shooting at a party.
After receiving care, “they received treatment and released or transported to other facilities,” Foy explained. She did not verify the age range or the number of patients admitted.
Pike Road Schools reported in a Facebook post that at least one of the injured was a student from the hamlet of Pike Road, located roughly 60 miles southwest of Dadeville on the outskirts of Montgomery. The student’s injuries and current condition are unknown at this time.
Many of our pupils have connections to those who lost their lives. The presence of one of our kids was confirmed, and our prayers remain focused on their full recovery.
News Video of Dadeville Shooting Watch Now