The reasons for the massacre experienced this weekend in Alabama, when a shooting left four dead and 28 injured during a teenager’s birthday party, remain a mystery. At the moment, state and local authorities have not revealed information about the suspects or the motive for the shooting, but details of the hell that occurred in the dance hall of Dadeville, a town of about 3,000 residents northeast of Montgomery,
The last thing that is known is that one of the deceased, an 18-year-old older brother of the teenager who was celebrating her birthday, died saving the birthday girl Alexis Dowdell, 16. The hero was Philstavious Dowdell, an athlete who had just received a football scholarship to Jacksonville State University. “He was a great young man with a bright future. My staff and I are heartbroken,” Jacksonville head coach Roger McDowell said.
As Alexis has told the BBC, her brother pushed her and knocked her to the ground when the shots began, saving her life. She has also claimed that her brother had come looking for her at the party because she “had heard rumors that various attendees were carrying weapons.”
After pushing her and starting the shooting, the brothers separated due to the melee generated by panic. When they met again, Phil was badly injured and couldn’t even speak. He could only open his eyes and raise his eyebrows as she held him in her arms, where he died.
Alexis and her mother, LaTonya Allen, have stated on the BBC that they did not know what led to the shooting. On the other hand, Taniya Cox, another witness who received two bullet wounds in the arm, has recounted that Alexis’s mother found out that there were weapons at the party and “said that whoever had weapons had to come out and they didn’t come out and five minutes later the shooting began”, which would confirm the existence of several shooters.
Allen said her son made her proud “in every way.” “They ripped out a piece of my heart. I was supposed to graduate next month. Instead of me going to graduation, I’ll go to the cemetery to see my son,” she said through tears.
Marsiah Collins, 19, Shaunkivia Smith, 17, and Corbin Holston, 23, were also killed. In addition, thirty-two more people were injured in the attack.
The United States, a country of around 330 million people, has some 400 million guns and deadly mass shootings are common. Efforts to tighten gun controls have been stalled in Congress for years.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
