Teen brothers arrested in deadly shooting at Sweet 16 birthday in Alabama

[Auburn85 438]

I know there's already a thread in the non political forum. Just figured to make a post here in case someone wanted to chime in.

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alabama-shooting-suspects-arrested-authorities-announce/

 

 

Quote

 

By Alex Sundby

Updated on: April 19, 2023 / 1:18 PM / CBS News

 

Two teenage brothers were accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama, authorities announced Wednesday. Four young people were killed in the shooting late Saturday night at a dance studio in the town of Dadeville, Alabama.

Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said the suspects were arrested Tuesday night. The suspects were identified as Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee. A spokesperson with the agency later confirmed to CBS News the suspects are brothers.

"Make no mistake: This is Alabama, and when you pull out a gun and you start shooting people, we're going to put you in jail," Burkett said.

The suspects were each charged with four counts of reckless murder, Burkett told reporters during a morning press conference. District Attorney Mike Segrest said the suspects would be charged as adults. CBS News typically does not name suspects who are minors unless they're being charged as adults with serious crimes.

All of the deceased victims in the mass shooting were under the age of 24. The victims were identified as Marsiah Collins, 19; Phil Dowdell, 18; Corbin Holston, 23; and Shaunkivia Smith, 17.

Another 32 people were hurt in the shooting. Segrest said four people were still in critical condition and that additional charges would be filed against the suspects.

"We're going to make sure every one of those victims has justice and not just the deceased," Segrest said.

The district attorney noted that the birthday party was for Dowdell's sister, Alexis Dowdell.

"Sweet 16. There's uncut cake and unburnt 16 candles that never got lit ... on her 16th birthday party, she went out by her brother as he took his last breath," Segrest said. "That's what we're dealing with here."

Dowdell's mother, Latonya Allen, who was struck twice in the shooting, told CBS News earlier this week the gunfire sent partygoers running, hiding and crying. Phil Dowdell was found inside the dance studio.

"Alexis, she got down on her knees and was holding him," Allen told CBS News. "He was just bloody. She was saying, kept telling him, 'Wake up, Phil.'"

Alexis Dowdell said her brother pushed her to the ground when the shooting started and saved her life. "If it wasn't for him, I mean, I don't know where I would be, I don't know if I would still be standing here today," she told CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca.

A bond hearing will be held for the suspects within 72 hours, Segrest said. The district attorney said prosecutors will ask for them to be held without bond.

The investigation into the shooting was ongoing, and Burkett said he couldn't discuss a possible motive for the attack or a possible connection between the suspects and the victims.

Burkett urged people who were at the party and haven't already contacted investigators to reach out to authorities.

"We need you to come forward for these families, for these victims," Burkett said.

 

 

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.wsfa.com/2023/04/20/alea-charges-4th-suspect-dadeville-mass-shooting/

 

 

Quote

 

A fourth suspect has been charged in the Dadeville mass shooting that left four dead and 32 others injured.

According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee, was arrested Thursday and charged in connection to the case. Much like the other suspects charged, Brown also faces four counts of reckless murder.

After announcing the first three arrests on Wednesday, ALEA Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said more arrests were to be expected.

“We very much have a plan and we’re trying to execute it in a way that’s gonna work for what we’re trying to accomplish,” Burkett said. “We’ve been very strategic.”

Special agents with ALEA’s State Bureau of Investigation and local and federal partners established a Command Post at the Tallapoosa County Courthouse in Dadeville on Sunday and launched an extensive investigation using all available resources to process the scene, ALEA stated.

ALEA is still asking those in attendance at the party to come forward and provide information about what happened.

“We still truly believe that everybody that was at the venue that night has not come forward, and we have not had an opportunity to interview them,” Burkett said.

Law enforcement asks those with videos or photos from the incident to share them. Those items can be uploaded HERE. Also, if you have information for the 5th Circuit District Attorney’s Office concerning the incident or need to provide information to the individuals or families concerning victim services, please click HERE.

 

 

[AU9377 6,099]

The words "dance studio" and Dadeville just seem a strange fit in the same sentence.  This is a horrible act and unfortunately shows how little some people value life.

[AUFAN78 4,162]

9 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

The words "dance studio" and Dadeville just seem a strange fit in the same sentence.  This is a horrible act and unfortunately shows how little some people value life.

Happy to say I agree with you. Very discouraged by the circumstance as were you.

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.wsfa.com/2023/04/20/alea-charges-4th-5th-suspects-dadeville-mass-shooting/

 

ALEA charges 4th, 5th suspects in Dadeville mass shooting

 

 

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.alexcityoutlook.com/news/exclusive-6th-arrest-made-in-connection-with-dadeville-shooting-da-says/article_a7cc4ede-dfda-11ed-b562-d7e36e8b548e.html

 

Sixth arrest. 15 year old

[PUB78 1,418]

Odds are that none of these five young punks have a Father in their lives 

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.alreporter.com/2023/04/21/opinion-sen-jay-hovey-may-have-meant-well-but-he-was-wrong/

 

 

Quote

 

Opinion | Sen. Jay Hovey may have meant well, but he was wrong

 

David Person

April 21

The Auburn Republican spoke from the Senate floor on Tuesday about the horrific tragedy in Dadeville, which is part of his District 27 territory. And God bless him for that. Because what happened in Dadeville is heartbreaking, and needs our full attention.

Six suspects – Ty Reik McCullough, Travis McCullough, Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., Willie George Brown Jr., Johnny Letron Brown, and unnamed 15-year-old– have been accused of shooting up a Sweet 16 party at a dance studio. Four young people were killed. Another 32 people were injured.  

Hovey did the right thing by honoring the lives lost on the Senate floor. Philstavious Dowdell, Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins, and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston. May God comfort the loved ones whom they’ve left behind.

But then Hovey reportedly said this: “People are going to try to politicize this event, as so many others that break our hearts. But I’m going to tell you now, and you’ll hear me say over and over again over the next years that we work together, that we’re never going to be able to legislate morality. 

“The evil in this world that continues to devastate the communities across the country can only be defeated in the hearts and minds and homes and churches of these communities. There will be discussions on this floor and in legislative bodies across this country about the responsibility of legislators. And while of course we have the responsibility to do everything we can to protect our communities, this war will only be won by changing hearts.”

Eloquent words. Eloquent, but wrong.

Wrong, because evil has been defeated by laws. The American slave trade was ended by the 13th amendment to the Constitution. (Slavery itself continued in other forms – such as convict leasing – but it ended as an open market industry.)

Women, once deprived of the right to vote, got it thanks to the 19th amendment to the Constitution. (Of course, discrimination against women hasn’t ended. But we have more weapons to fight it because they can vote.)

And Jim Crow’s demise started with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and continued with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

Not that all of Hovey’s lofty lines were wrong.

He’s right about our inability to legislate morality. Whatever evil lurks in any of our hearts can only be eradicated by a combination of choice and love.

But the war against evil has a powerful ally in legislation. Laws keep evil from running rampant. They contain evil, often constraining it to being nothing more than a fantasy or impulse that is never becomes reality.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explained it this way during a speech at Western Michigan University on December 18, 1963: “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me. And I think that is pretty important, also. So, there is a need for executive orders. There is a need for judicial decrees. There is a need for civil rights legislation on the local scale within states and on the national scale from the federal government.”  

Don’t buy into the myth that legislation or regulations can’t decrease the chances of another Dadeville. “Religion and education must play a great role in changing the heart,” Dr. King said during the same speech. “But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless.”

Legislation can keep teenaged boys away guns – or at least decrease the chances they can access them. It can encourage parents and other adults to think twice about how they store and secure their weapons. Legislation can make a gun retailer or private owner extra vigilant about whom they decide to sell a weapon. It can create background checks and waiting periods that decrease the chance that dangerous or mentally challenged people can buy guns.

Common sense gun legislation can’t eradicate the evil that instigated the Dadeville massacre. But it might make such tragedies less likely.

 

 

[Auburn85 438]

 

 

 

 

[Auburn85 438]

 

[autigeremt 7,254]

Ms. Isner may as well be speaking to a wall. This was a coordinated and premeditated mass murder and very few in Alabama are listening to her. 

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.al.com/news/2023/04/after-dadeville-alabama-reaches-sixth-stage-of-grief-doing-nothing.html

 

 

Quote

 

After Dadeville, Alabama reaches sixth stage of grief: Doing nothing

 

April 21

 

Kyle Whitmire

This is an opinion column.

 

When three children and three adults died in a Nashville, Tenn. mass shooting, Gov. Kay Ivey ordered flags statewide lowered to half-staff in a memo called a “flag order.”

 

She’d done something similar after the mass murder in Uvalde.

 

But two days after a mass shooting in Dadeville killed four people and injured 32 others right here in her home state, Ivey issued another flag memo — only this time for Dadeville itself, not all of the state agencies she leads.

I’m not sure how many city flag poles there are in Dadeville, but in town of 3,000 people, I’m guessing it’s about five.

 

 

Less than 48 hours into this tragedy and our elected leaders were already doing, and saying, the least they could get away with.

 

 

Now, almost a week into the aftermath, they’ve progressed from as little as possible to doing nothing.

I shouldn’t pick on my home state.

 

 

Doing nothing is America’s sixth stage of grief after such mass murders.

And I suppose a governor has to be careful with such pronouncements. If folks get used to lowering a flag for Alabama children killed with guns, who knows when we’d ever get the Ol’ Glory back to the top of that pole?

 

 

On Tuesday, the Alabama Legislature held a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting, which might be the most thoughtful form of doing nothing.

 

 

However, state Sen. Jay Hovey, R-Auburn, who represents Dadeville, opened his mouth and ruined it.

 

 

“I’m going to tell you now, and you’ll hear me say over and over again over the next years that we work together, that we’re never going to be able to legislate morality,” Hovey said Tuesday.

 

 

Hovey is new to the legislature, having won election only last year, so perhaps he’s behind the learning curve.

Because the Alabama Legislature tries to legislate morality all the time.

 

 

Not even two weeks ago, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall raided and shut down 14 electronic bingo halls in Jefferson County that he accused of illegal gambling, which is still a crime in most parts of the state.

 

 

And the same day Hovey proclaimed morality beyond the reach of the Alabama Senate, downstairs Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter said recreational marijuana would remain illegal as long as he is in charge.

 

 

“The Speaker won’t allow it on the floor,” Ledbetter told reporters, referring to himself.

 

 

Alabama lawmakers have legislated morality many times, including passing harsher penalties and mandatory minimums for fentanyl-related crimes this very session.

This is the same Alabama Legislature that, not so long ago, made it illegal to give an undocumented immigrant a ride to the store.

 

 

And it’s the same legislature that much more recently interfered in the medical decisions of trans youth because there’s no privacy they won’t invade to force their beliefs on anyone different.

 

 

Hovey and others in Montgomery would like you to think there’s nothing they can do about mass shootings. Instead, Hovey, says it’s up to communities and churches and hearts and minds.

 

 

“The evil in this world that continues to devastate the communities across the country can only be defeated in the hearts and minds and homes and churches of these communities,” he said.

 

 

According to Pew Research, Alabama is the most religious state in the country and has the second-highest regular church attendance of any state but Utah.

If churches were a mitigating factor in ending gun violence, Alabama would be one of the safest states in which to live.

 

 

But it’s not.

 

 

Alabama has the third-highest homicide rate in the nation, and we rank fourth in gun deaths.

 

 

Curiously, New Hampshire ranked lowest both in Pew’s religiosity index and in the CDCs data for homicides.

 

 

But churches aren’t part of our problem any more than they are a solution.

 

 

If you want to find the problem, look no further than Goat Hill.

 

 

Alabama lawmakers — and let’s be fair to Democrats, it’s the GOP supermajority we’re talking about — have done nothing to curb gun violence while doing everything they can to make firearms accessible and unrestricted.

Last year, over the objections of law enforcement, lawmakers repealed state laws requiring pistol permits. The new law requires anyone carrying a gun to tell police about it when stopped, but the law doesn’t include any sort of penalty for those who break it.

 

 

State Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, introduced a bill to add a fine to the law.

 

 

That bill died this week in committee.

 

 

“We have to figure out who we are serving,” England said. “Is it our citizens, or a special interest group that apparently won’t allow us to do any reasonable restrictions on firearms? To be honest with you, the NRA runs this building.”

England tried to do something.

 

 

He should have known better.

 

 

Alabama is firmly in the do-nothing stage of grief, and it will be stuck there until it progresses to the next.

 

 

Stage 7: Repeat.

 

 

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.al.com/news/2023/04/aniahs-law-hearing-set-for-dadeville-shooting-suspects-this-morning.html

 

 

Quote

 

‘Blood everywhere’: 89 shots fired in Dadeville birthday party, guns found on 2 of the dead

 

April 25

 

Carol Robinson

 

At least seven guns were fired in the Dadeville Sweet 16 birthday party that left four people dead and 32 injured, leaving 89 shell casings on the floor of the dance studio, a special agent with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency testified Tuesday.

 

Killed in the shooting were Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, 17, Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins, 19, and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23.

 

Those charged with reckless murder and being held in the Tallapoosa County Jail are: 20-year-old Johnny Letron Brown of Tuskegee; 19-year-old Willie George Brown Jr. of Auburn; 20-year-old Wilson LaMar Hill Jr. of Auburn, and brothers Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, of Tuskeegee.

 

 

A 15-year-old, who has not been publicly identified, is also charged.

 

 

An “Aniah’s Law” hearing was held this morning and the judge said he would decide within 24 to 48 hours whether the suspects will be held without bail until trial.

 

 

Johnny Brown, Willie Brown, and Wilson Hill were in the court this morning.

 

 

Hearings were scheduled this afternoon for the McCullough brothers but the judge said reporters would not be allowed to attend because they are juveniles.

Special Agent Jess Thornton, the lead investigator in the case, testified there were 50 to 60 people inside the hall, which is 38-feet-long and 26-feet-wide.

 

 

At one point in the evening, a DJ’s speaker fell over, making a sound similar to a gunshot, Thornton said. When that happened, several of the young people there lifted their shirts to show they had guns.

 

 

LaTonya Allen, mother of Phil Dowdell and birthday girl Alexis Dowdell, said anyone over 18 or carrying a gun needed to leave.

 

 

Not long after that, shots rang out leaving “multiple shell casings, blood everywhere,” Thornton testified.

 

 

One of the guns was found sitting on the chest of Holston’s lifeless body. The gun had been fired, Thornton said.

 

 

Witnesses also said Holston at one point wore a ski mask.

 

 

“Most of the suspects said he fired first,” Thornton said.

Another gun was found in Collins’ waistband, but it had not been fired.

 

 

Those were the only two guns recovered from the scene. At least four different caliber weapons were fired, Thornton said. Those were a 9 millimeter, 22 caliber, 40 caliber and 45 caliber.

 

 

Witnesses reported hearing rapid fire and Thornton testified one defendant admitted his gun had been altered to be fully automatic and investigators believe another gun had also been converted to automatic.

 

 

The six defendants are all relatives or friends, Thornton said. They were not invited but knew of the party and met up there from Auburn and Tuskegee.

 

 

Of the six, only Willie Brown denied being at the party. Thornton said, however, shell casings from an unrelated incident in Auburn in which he is a suspect matched one used in Dadeville.

One the juvenile suspects, it was not clear which, had an ankle monitor from an unrelated shooting in Tuskegee and its GPS tracker showed he was in Dadeville.

 

 

Jeanette Darden, an aunt to at least four of the suspects including the McCullough brothers, said she believes her nephews are being railroaded.

 

 

“I pray for all (the victims) families. I deeply pray for them and my heart goes out to them. But I also pray for my family.”

 

 

Asked how the suspects are holding up, Darden said, “They’re messed up. It really hurts. We’re all hurting.”

 

 

Today’s hearing

 

 

Aniah’s Law passed in 2022 in response to a crime that attracted statewide attention. Aniah Blanchard, a 19-year-old college student from Homewood, was abducted from a convenience store in Auburn in October 2019. A month later, authorities found Blanchard’s body in rural Macon County.

The man charged in Blanchard’s kidnapping and murder, Ibraheem Yazeed, had been released from jail on a $280,000 bond after being charged with kidnapping, robbery and attempted murder from a January 2019 incident in Montgomery.

 

 

Charging documents against Hill state that he, Travis McCullough and Tyreese McCullough, who also goes by Ty Reik McCullough, were present and discharged firearms into the crowd, causing the deaths of the four victims. The new expanded the list of crimes for which a defendant could be held without bail.

 

 

The documents also stated Johnny Brown and Willie Brown were together that night and fired shots at the Mahogany’s Masterpiece dance studio, one block from the courthouse.

Under Alabama law, the crime of reckless murder is committed when a person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person other than himself or herself and causes the death of another person.

 

 

[Auburn85 438]

 

[aubiefifty 18,438]

not only alabama but this country is swimming in blood. it breaks my heart. but hell lets put more guns on the street.it will certainly make it easier on law enforcement right?

[homersapien 12,302]

Waiting to hear a motive....

[aubiefifty 18,438]

5 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Waiting to hear a motive....

anger and stupidity. we should check all students mental health in high school. send the tests to the professionals and let them view the results and get those kids some help. it will not stop all of it but i believe it would make a dent in the violence.

[Auburn85 438]

https://www.wsfa.com/2023/04/26/bond-denied-suspects-dadeville-mass-shooting/?fbclid=IwAR0tQhhqFuIyjorQq4uqASUaXbDuCNBw6ReJZGtnl7f16jataTIMa4D9ckY

 

 

Quote

 

Bond denied for suspects in Dadeville mass shooting

TALLAPOOSA COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - A judge has decided in favor of the state’s request to deny bond for the suspects in the Dadeville mass shooting.

Judge Clayton Taylor issued a decision on Wednesday that bond would be denied for five of the six suspects in the case, including Travis and Tyreese McCullough.

An Aniah’s Law hearing was held Tuesday for five of the six suspects. While Johnny Brown, Willie Brown and Hill were held in traditional court, a “closed-door” hearing was held for the McCullough brothers due to their ages.

The sixth suspect, an unnamed 15-year-old, was also denied bail, but that decision was made at a separate hearing.

 

“The State intends to file a motion to transfer him from juvenile court to be tried as an adult,” said District Attorney Michael Segrest. “The juvenile court will have to hold a hearing to decide whether to transfer. Under the law, the 16 and 17 year olds, although still juveniles, are automatically transferred when charged.”

An Aniah’s Law Hearing is meant to deny bail to violent offenders accused of crimes ranging from human trafficking to murder.

State Bureau of Investigations Lead Case Agent Jesse Thornton was one of three witnesses called to the stand for the state. He testified about arriving at the scene and the process of collecting the evidence, noting that he’d never seen anything of this magnitude in his 18 years with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

The shooting happened on Saturday, April 16 inside the Mahogany Dance Studio. According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, 89 shell casings of four different calibers from seven different weapons. Four people were killed during the shooting and 32 people were injured.

 

ALEA’s Fusion Center has also partnered with the FBI Mobile Office to provide a digital tip line for videos and photos related to the incident. Those files may be uploaded HERE. Also, if you have information for the 5th Circuit District Attorney’s Office concerning the incident or need to provide information to the individuals or families concerning victim services, please click HERE.

Anyone with tips on the crime is asked to call ALEA’s Crime Tip Line at 1-800-392-8011 or email SBI.Investigations@alea.gov.

 

 

[Mikey 16,781]

20 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

not only alabama but this country is swimming in blood. it breaks my heart. but hell lets put more guns on the street.it will certainly make it easier on law enforcement right?

This wasn't about guns. It's about illegal drugs, drug money, and a failed culture. Which ones of the above are you guilty of contributing to?

20 hours ago, homersapien said:

Waiting to hear a motive....

Look at the subject thread in the All Things Considered forum.

[aubiefifty 18,438]

2 minutes ago, Mikey said:

This wasn't about guns. It's about illegal drugs, drug money, and a failed culture. Which ones of the above are you guilty of contributing to?

Look at the subject thread in the All Things Considered forum.

you are so stupid it blows my mind. when anyone is killed it IS about guns.drugs might be motive but the guns took those kids lives...

[I_M4_AU 9,035]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

you are so stupid it blows my mind. when anyone is killed it IS about guns.drugs might be motive but the guns took those kids lives...

What about people that were killed by a knife?  

Edited April 27, 2023 by I_M4_AU

[aubiefifty 18,438]

14 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

What about people that were killed by a knife?

i am sad anyone gets hurt or killed but i think you already know the answer to that.................

[I_M4_AU 9,035]

2 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

i am sad anyone gets hurt or killed but i think you already know the answer to that.................

Cause and affect would indicate the drugs and the money they bring in is why these people have guns and use them.  They are not protecting their lives, they are trying to intimidate anybody that would think about stealing from them.

[aubiefifty 18,438]

7 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Cause and affect would indicate the drugs and the money they bring in is why these people have guns and use them.  They are not protecting their lives, they are trying to intimidate anybody that would think about stealing from them.

tell me iam. how many mass killing have we had in our country where a lone person with a knife kills a bunch of people. and how far can a man throw a knife if he is up in a building and wanting to kill people at a concert below him?

[I_M4_AU 9,035]

12 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

tell me iam. how many mass killing have we had in our country where a lone person with a knife kills a bunch of people. and how far can a man throw a knife if he is up in a building and wanting to kill people at a concert below him?

Whataboutism