On Sunday, state police and local news media reported that a shooting occurred at a dance studio in Dadeville, Alabama during a birthday party, resulting in the death of at least four people, including a high school football player. The incident, which occurred about 100 km northeast of Montgomery, also left more than 28 people injured, some of them critically. Although authorities confirmed that the shooting began shortly after 10:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, they did not provide further details or answer questions during a Sunday news conference. Jeremy Burkett, a sergeant with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, stated that they would continue to carefully investigate the scene and ensure that justice is served for the families affected.
According to the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper, a high school football player was one of the four individuals killed during the shooting at the birthday party, where he was attending his sister's "Sweet 16" celebration when the shooter opened fire. Reuters could not verify this information, nor could they identify the other three victims. The shooting took place at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio, located in an old bank building near city hall in Dadeville, a town with a population of around 3,000. No details were provided on what caused the attack or if any suspects had been apprehended, but Sergeant Burkett confirmed that there was no longer a threat to the community. In a statement, President Joe Biden expressed his concern over the increasing gun violence in the country, calling it "outrageous and unacceptable." He urged Congress to pass laws holding firearms manufacturers accountable for gun violence, banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, and mandating safe storage and background checks for gun sales. Tallapoosa County Schools Superintendent, Raymond Porter, announced that counseling services would be available at local schools on Monday, and he requested assistance from local religious leaders to support affected families.
Tallapoosa County Schools Superintendent Raymond Porter stated that they would prioritize providing comfort to the children who were most affected by the shooting. The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and investigators from the local prosecutor's office also responded to the scene, according to a release from the state law enforcement agency. The incident occurred only a few weeks after two high-profile mass shootings in neighboring Tennessee and Kentucky, leading local officials to push for stricter gun control measures. Last week, a bank employee in Louisville, Kentucky, killed five colleagues and wounded nine others, while on March 27, a former student killed three staff members and three 9-year-olds at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. The Gun Violence Archive has reported more than 163 mass shootings in the US thus far in 2023, the most in any year since at least 2016. The nonprofit organization defines a mass shooting as any incident in which four or more individuals are killed or wounded, not including the shooter.