Just hours after it was announced that Alabama police have arrested two teenagers in connection with the shooting that killed four people and injured 32 at a teenager’s birthday party last week, police have now nabbed a third suspect.
Auburn resident Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, was taken into police custody on Wednesday afternoon and charged with four counts of reckless murder, according to Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. As we previously reported, Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, were arrested Tuesday night.
Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Wednesday during the first police news conference since Sunday that all three have been charged with four counts of reckless murder. It was noted that the teen brothers will be charged as adults.
“Make no mistake, this is Alabama. If you pull out a gun and you start shooting people — we’re going to put you in jail,” Burkett said.
RELATED: UPDATE: Alabama Police Arrest 2 Teenagers For Birthday Party Shooting That Killed 4 People
More On The Shooting
The shooting reportedly happened at approximately 10:34 p.m. Saturday at Mahogany’s Masterpiece dance studio on North Broadnax Street in downtown Dadeville, one block from the courthouse. Keenan Cooper, the DJ at the party, told WBMA-TV the event was stopped briefly when partygoers heard someone had a gun. He said people with weapons were asked to kindly leave. However, no one did.
Gunfire erupted hitting multiple people. Fifteen patients with gunshot wounds were treated at Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville, spokeswoman Heidi Smith told CBS News on Monday. Five teenagers with gunshot wounds were in critical condition when they were transferred to other hospitals, Smith said.
Later it was revealed that 4 people had actually died in the tragic shooting. The victims have been identified as Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, a 23-year-old from Dadeville, Alabama, Marsiah Emmanuel Collins, a 19-year-old from Opelika, Alabama, Philstavious Dowdell, an 18-year-old from Camp Hill, Alabama, and a senior at Dadeville High School, and Shaunkivia (KeKe) Nicole Smith, a 17-year-old senior at Dadeville High School.
“It was Lexi’s 16th birthday party. A Sweet 16. There’s an uncut cake and unburnt 16 candles that never got lit. Lexi’s brother is one of the victims,” District Attorney Mike Segrest said at a press conference on Wednesday. “On her 16th birthday party, she kneeled by her brother as he took his last breath. That’s what we’re dealing with.”
“The message that I want to send is I know some of these victims personally. Some of these kids are kids of friends of mine, people that I went to school with, people that I played ball with and against in the community back in high school. And these are my kids,” Segrest added.
An investigation is ongoing. We will continue to keep you updated as this story develops.
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