Another tragic mass shooting took place Saturday night, this time in Dadeville, Alabama.

According to reports, 20 people were shot and four are dead after the shooting at a 16-year-old’s birthday party.

One of the victims is Phil Dowdell, who just committed to play football at Jacksonville State University where he was going to play wide receiver.

The incident took place at his sister’s party.

On April 8, Dowdell posted on Facebook, “Everyday my life go up & up, it’s hard for me to get mad”

The Revered Ben Hayes, who is the senior pastor at Dadeville First Baptist Church, has been speaking for the community.

“It was a very sad, sad scene,” he told reporters outside the hospital. “A very rough night.”

No one knows yet exactly what happened to cause the violence. Details from police have been unclear and they have yet to name a suspect. There are also some conflicting reports about the fatalities, which some saying it’s more than the four reported. It’s also unclear if the suspect is still at-large or if they were one of the dead.

“This is a good family in our community, good kids,” Hayes said Sunday morning. “Some of the best people heading this party.”

As of Sunday morning, this is the 163 mass shooting that has taken place in this country in 2023, per the Gun Violence Archive.

{Al.com}

About Stacey Mickles

Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.