Birthday torn sour: 6 killed, 28 injured in US shooting

 

 

DADEVILLE, United States – Birthday bash on Saturday night turned sour in the US state of Alabama, where 6 people were confirmed killed and at least 28 others injured.

Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, police officer attached to the Alabama Police Post, Sgt Jeremy Burkett said one suspect was already in custody, following the shooting at a dance studio in Dadeville, during a birthday party.

Burkett said the shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. “There were four lives tragically lost in this incident,” he said. But eye witnesses say they saw at least six teenagers dead on the floor.

The man on the turntable, DJ Keenan Cooper told journalists that the party was stopped briefly when those in attendant heard someone had a gun. He said people with guns were asked to leave, but no one left. However, “when the shooting began some time later, some people took shelter under a table where i was standing, and others ran out”, he said.

Dadeville Mayor,  Frank Goodman said he was in bed asleep when a council member called him just before 11 p.m. Saturday to inform him about the incident. He said he went to Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville, where some of the people who had been shot were taken.

“It was chaotic. There were people running around. They were crying and screaming. There were police cars everywhere, there were ambulances everywhere. People were trying to find out about their loved ones. That was a scene, where we never had anything like this happen in our city before”, he said.

Meanwhile, there has been pockets of protest staged by parents and kids at the scene of the killing, armed with placards.

“NO I won’t accept your thoughts and prayers; No I won’t accept this as just another Sunday morning in America; No I won’t think drag queens are a bigger issue; I don’t want to be next; Blood is on republicans hands”, their posters reads.