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Google PlayIt was a bloody scene at Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio on Saturday when what should have been a night of celebration for a Sweet 16, turned into a mass shooting leaving at least four dead and 20 injured.
The town of Dadeville, Ala was shaken Saturday night when 17 ambulances arrived at the scene just after 10:30 p.m.
Heidi Smith, who handles marketing for Ivy Creek Healthcare, says the local hospital treated at least 15 gunshot victims. Per NPR, others who were injured had been transferred to additional hospitals with more being flown to a trauma center in Birmingham.
In a statement from Ala. Gov. Kay Ivey on Twitter, she said, “Violent crime has no place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge.”
Ben Hayes, a senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dadeville told ABC News that he was at a local hospital with the families of those who’d been killed and injured. According to Hayes, the shooting was because of tempers flaring during a verbal altercation.
People came to celebrate Annette Allen’s granddaughter. Those in attendance included her brother (Allen’s grandson) and her mother (Allen’s daughter). Unfortunately, Allen’s grandson was among the casualties from Saturday’s shootings, while Allen’s daughter was seriously injured.
“This is a small community and they just wanted to enjoy the birthday party,” Allen told NPR’s member station Troy Public Radio. “We had to be standing and waiting for bodies to brought out.”
Dadeville has a small population of roughly 3,000 people.
Haynes says most of the victims were teenagers. “One of the young men that was killed was one of our star athletes and just a great guy,” he said. “I knew many of these students. Dadeville is a small town and this is going to affect everybody in this area.”
There have been at least 163 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. Earlier on Saturday, there was a shooting in Louisville, Kentucky that killed two, and injured four.
