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Two teenagers and a 20-year-old man have been arrested and charged with reckless murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party in rural Alabama, investigators announced Wednesday.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency announced that Tyreese “Ty Reik” McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee — along with Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn — had been charged with four counts of reckless murder. Tallapoosa County District Attorney Mike Segrest said the two teens would be tried as adults, an automatic requirement for anyone 16 or older charged with murder in Alabama.
Sgt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency declined at a news conference Wednesday to discuss how investigators believe the shooting unfolded.
“We can’t get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation,” Burkett said. “We can’t share that.”
State law defines reckless murder as when someone causes a death by acting with extreme indifference to human life and recklessly engaging in conduct which creates a grave risk of death.
Saturday’s shooting at a 16th birthday party shocked Dadeville, a sleepy town of 3,200 in east Alabama. Besides the four people killed, 32 others were injured, four of them critically. The party, thrown at a dance studio just off the town square, was in full swing when gunfire erupted.
The birthday girl’s brother, 18-year-old Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell of Camp Hill, was killed. He and another fatal victim, 17-year-old Shaunkivia Nicole “KeKe” Smith of Dadeville, were high school seniors.
