On Saturday night, a mass shooting took place in downtown Dadeville, Alabama, resulting in several casualties and injuries. The incident occurred just after 10:30 pm and was reported by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. CNN reached out to various officials, including the mayor of Dadeville, the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Office, and the county coroner, for additional information.
The governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, expressed her condolences to the people of Dadeville and Alabamians, stating that violent crime has no place in their state. Dadeville, a small town with a population of 3,000, is located approximately 45 miles northeast of Montgomery. The incident occurred on the same day that another mass shooting took place in Louisville, Kentucky, resulting in two deaths and four injuries.
The Gun Violence Archive reported that there have been at least 162 mass shootings in the first 15 weeks of 2023 in the United States. The archive defines mass shootings as incidents where four or more individuals, excluding the perpetrator, are shot. This alarming figure translates to an average of over 1.5 mass shootings per day this year.
According to a hospital spokesperson, fifteen teenagers were treated for gunshot wounds at Dadeville’s Lake Martin Community Hospital. They were attending a Sweet 16 party when the shooting occurred. Four people died, and the remaining nine wounded teenagers have been transferred to other medical facilities.
Five of the teens still hospitalized were in critical condition, and four were in stable condition. CNN reached out to Dadeville’s Russell Medical Center for additional information but has not yet received a response.
The mass shooting in Dadeville was connected to a birthday party, according to Sgt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. He said that there were four deaths and a “multitude” of injuries.
This tragic incident is a sobering reminder of the ongoing issue of gun violence in the United States. It highlights the urgent need for stricter gun laws and measures to prevent such atrocities from happening in the future.
