(CNN) — A mass shooting tied to a birthday party has left four people dead and a “multitude” of injuries in Dadeville, Alabama, state officials said.
The shooting happened around 10:34 p.m. Saturday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Sunday.
“It was tied to a birthday party,” Sgt. Jeremy J. Burkett said. “There were four lives tragically lost in this incident, and there’s been a multitude of injuries.”
Burkett declined to provide more details, citing the ongoing investigation.
One of the victims killed was a member of the Dadeville High School football team, said Ben Hayes, senior pastor of Dadeville’s First Baptist Church.
Hayes also serves as the chaplain for Dadeville police and the Dadeville High School football team. He said the police chief asked him to go to Lake Martin Community Hospital to help with crowd control and ministering students who had gathered.
“It’s a very close, tight-knit community,” Hayes told CNN’s Isabel Rosales. “Everybody knows everybody. That’s why this is so difficult it’s because this, it’s affecting everybody in the community.”
Hayes said students told him the shooting happened at a “Sweet 16” birthday party.
“I knew these kids personally. Most people did,” the pastor said.
Among those gathered at the hospital, “There was a lot of sadness, a lot of concern on faces,” Hayes said.
“I think at this point it’s shock,” he said. “I think probably the anger will come. I think it’s a matter of time to see how people respond to this. But right now, things are quiet, and we’re just praying that it stays that way.”
A prayer vigil will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday outside First Baptist Church, Hayes said.
“What we’ve dealt with is something that no community should have to endure,” Dadeville Police Chief Jonathan L. Floyd said Sunday.
“I also ask each of you please do not let this moment define what you think about the city of Dadeville and our fine people.”
Dadeville, population 3,000, is about 45 miles northeast of Montgomery.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey publicly sent her condolences to the community. “This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians,” Ivey said in a statement to CNN.
“Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge.”
The Alabama shooting happened the same day that shots were fired into a crowd at a park in Louisville, Kentucky. Two people were killed and four others were wounded.
The US has suffered at least 162 mass shootings in the first 15 weeks of 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. That’s an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings every day so far this year.
The archive defines mass shootings as those in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.
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