A fourth man was arrested Thursday and charged with murder in connection with a shooting at Sweet 16 birthday party that killed four young people in Alabama, authorities announced.
Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee, is charged with for counts of reckless murder, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. A total of four defendants are now facing reckless murder charges in connection to the fatal shooting.
The shooting rampage at the Sweet 16 birthday killed four young people, ranging from ages 17 to 23 and shocked the small east Alabama city of Dadeville. In addition to the four slain, 32 others were injured, four of them critically. The party, at a dance studio just off the town square, was in full swing when gunfire erupted.
Tyreese "Ty Reik" McCullough, 17, of Tuskegee and Travis McCullough, 16, of Tuskegee were arrested Tuesday. Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn, was arrested Wednesday. The district attorney said the teens will be tried as adults as required by Alabama law when anyone 16 or older is charged with murder.
The birthday girl's brother, 18-year-old Philstavious "Phil" Dowdell of Camp Hill, died as his sister knelt beside him begging him to keep breathing. He and another fatal victim, 17-year-old Shaunkivia Nicole "KeKe" Smith of Dadeville, were high school seniors. Also slain were Marsiah Emmanuel "Siah" Collins, 19, of Opelika, and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23, of Dadeville.
"I just feel broken to know he is not with me," Dowdell's mother, LaTonya Allen said. "But I do feel a little peace knowing they arrested somebody." The arrests were announced the same day Dowdell's mother met with the funeral home to discuss details for his burial.
Allen said the three suspects were not invited to the party and her daughter "didn't know them," but they might have come with someone else as word of the party spread on social media.
Allen said she did not know how the shooting happened, but that she knew her son was gone once she saw him on the floor surrounded by blood.
"My daughter was kneeling beside him. He was trying to say something to her but he couldn't," she said.
Phil Dowdell was a star wide receiver readying to play college football at Jacksonville State University. Smith, also college-bound in the fall, was a caring big sister, her family said, and an athlete who became a team manager after being sidelined by a knee injury. Collins was a 2020 Opelika High School graduate planning to start college in the fall after taking a year off to try his hand at music. Holston was a 2018 Dadeville High graduate and former school athlete.
Flowers, balloons and two teddy bears with graduation caps and "Class of 2023" sashes were piled up Wednesday outside the dance studio. Black and gold balloons and ribbons, the colors of Dadeville High, adorned local mailboxes.
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