At least four people died and more than 20, mostly teenagers, were injured a shooting at a birthday party in a small town in the southern United States, in a new act of armed violence that shakes the country.
The shooting It happened Saturday night in Dadeville.town in the state of Alabama, in a room where a teenager celebrated her “Sweet 16” (Sweet 16), a party similar to that of Spanish-American quinceañeras.
A bullet hole was still visible in the building’s glass door Sunday, surrounded by yellow plastic police tape.
“This act tragically cost the lives of four people and left many injured,” Sergeant Jeremy Burkett, a spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), told reporters.
Burkett specified this later Sunday 28 people had been injured, some of them serious, and urged residents to come forward with any information they may have in relation to the attack. But he did not provide further details about how the shooting took place or why, or if a suspect has been arrested.
Phil Dowdell, the brother of the teenager who was celebrating his birthday, is among the dead, his grandmother, Annette Allen, told the local Montgomery Advertiser newspaper. The young man was in his last year of high school and is expected to graduate in a few weeks.
“He was a very, very quiet boy.. She has never joked with anyone. She always had a smile on her face,” Allen said of her nephew, a high school senior and football player who would be graduating from high school in a few weeks.
“Everyone is in mourning,” Allen said of the small community of about 3,000 residents.
Nearby Lake Martin Community Hospital has received 15 patients with gunshot wounds, mostly teenage victims, Heidi Smith, director of marketing for rural health center operator IvyCreek Healthcare, told AFP.
Six of the patients were discharged and nine were transferred to more specialized care settings. Of them, five were in critical condition, Smith said. “It was awful,” she said.
ALEA said a joint investigation was being launched with the Dadeville Police and federal agencies, including the FBI.
President Joe Biden said so the country was again in mourning for the youth Americans killed in gun violence.
“What has our nation come to when kids can’t attend a birthday party without fear?” Biden said in a statement.
“Guns are the leading cause of death for children in the United States, and the numbers are increasing, not decreasing,” added the Democratic president. “This is outrageous and unacceptable.”
Efforts to tighten gun controls have for years met with opposition from Republicans, staunch defenders of the constitutional right to bear arms. The political paralysis persists despite widespread outrage over the recurring shootings.
The United States, a country of about 330 million people, is awash with an estimated 400 million guns and deadly mass shootings are the order of the day.
The latest deaths came on the 16th anniversary of the deadliest school shooting on record in the United States, which killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.