Police confirm 4 killed and 28 injured in Alabama shooting
At least four people were killed, including a high school football player, in a shooting that erupted during a birthday party held inside a dance studio in the small town of Dadeville, Alabama, state police and local news media said on Sunday.
During a news conference, Alabama law enforcement agency spokesman, Jeremy Burkett, confirmed that 28 people sustained injuries of various severity during the shooting about 60 miles (100 km) northeast of the state capital of Montgomery, authorities said.
Authorities said the shooting started shortly after 10:30 p.m. CT on Saturday but declined to answer questions or provide further details during a Sunday news conference.
The Montgomery Advertiser newspaper reported that one of the four people slain during the violence was a high school football player who was among those attending his sister's "Sweet 16" birthday celebration when a gunman opened fire. Reuters could not independently confirm the information or learn the identities of the other three victims.
The party was being held inside the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio, converted from an old bank building located about half a block from city hall in Dadeville, a town of about 3,000 residents.
Officials provided no information about what led to the shooting or whether any suspect had been killed or arrested, but Burkett said there was no longer any threat to the community.
The FBI, the Federal 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 shooting occurred within weeks of two high-profile deadly mass shootings in the nearby states of Tennessee and Kentucky, which prompted local leaders to call for tighter gun control measures.
Reuters
