AL mass shooting: two teens arrested

The States

There are still limited details about a birthday party shooting in Dadeville on Saturday night. In the wake, President Biden repeated “guns are the leading killer of children in America,” a talking point repeatedly proven false.

After three days, arrests have been made in the wake of a shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party which killed four and injured 32 others. Dadeville, Alabama - Jimmy Emerson

The Alabama state police have arrested two teens on murder charges after a shooting on Saturday night.

A gunman opened fire just after 10:30 p.m. on a 16th birthday party gathering. Four teens were killed and 32 more people injured.

“We’ve got to have information from the community,” Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said early in the week.

On Tuesday night ALEA officers arrested Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee, according to Sgt. Burkett.

The pair face multiple charges, and more likely in coming days. 15 teens sustained gunshot wounds, along with multiple other persons.

“We’ve still got four that are in the hospital, four that are in critical condition,” said Fifth Circuit District Attorney Mike Segrest. He added that the suspects are being charged as adults.

The birthday party was held at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio for Alexis Dowdell’s Sweet 16 celebration. Tragically, Dowdell’s 18-year-old brother, Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, was one of the victims who was killed.

Dowdell told local news that when the gunfire began, she ran toward the door and felt her brother push her. “I guess he tried to push me out the door as fast as he could, but I ended up slipping on blood, because it was a whole bunch of blood on the floor,” she said.

Moments before the shooting began, witnesses reported, there were rumors that someone had a gun. The party briefly stopped and anyone with a gun was asked to leave. However, no one did. A short time later, the shooting started.

In a statement following the shooting, President Biden accused republicans and the NRA of trying to erode public safety. He then called for lawmakers to put more gun laws in place saying,

Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising – not declining.

This is outrageous and unacceptable. Americans agree and want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms. Instead, this past week Americans saw national Republican elected leaders stand alongside the NRA in a race to the bottom on dangerous laws that further erode gun safety. Our communities need and deserve better.

The talking point that guns are the leading cause of childrens’ death has been widely repeated by democrat politicians and pundits. However, this claim has been debunked by conservatives.

Gun Owners of America Erich Pratt recently said in an OpEd for The Sentinel:

Anti-gunners like Joe Biden refuse to admit that their gun control policies are at fault when a mass murderer attacks a gun-free school. Not only does the anti-gun crowd avoid responsibility for putting children at risk, but they also routinely double down with the lie that guns are the leading cause of the death of children.

Despite these revelations, Vice President Kamala Harris immediately called for more gun laws, tweeting:

Parents shouldn't have to pray their babies come home safe from school or a birthday party.

The majority of Americans, including gun owners, support commonsense gun safety laws.

We need leaders in state houses and Congress with the courage to step up and act.

This response from democrats has drawn criticism from those who view it as the callous politicization of shootings. In addition, many people observe that only shootings that meet certain narrative criteria get attention from politicians and the media, boosting their signal to the public on social media.

One such case was the recent shooting of Ralph Yarl, a black teen who was shot by a white man, which has been shared all over the internet. Yarl was shot in the head after ringing the doorbell at the wrong house when he went to pick up his siblings. Thankfully, Yarl survived.

National attention surrounding the incident has been on the fact that Yarl was shot by a white man. Ibram X. Kendi tweeted:

If Ralph was White, he would be playing with his siblings right now, or in school, or playing his instrument. But because he happens to be Black, he is hospitalized.

However, many criticize an apparent cherry-picking of stories that fit racial and political narratives. One tweet from author Daniel Friedman put it this way:

Dozens of black teenagers were shot over the weekend. There was a mass shooting at a Sweet 16 party in Alabama where 4 people were killed. But only this shooting, the one rare event in which a black kid was shot by a white guy, is national news.