DADEVILLE, Ala. — Eighty-nine empty shell casings and seven guns were recovered from an Alabama shooting that left four people dead, and “blood everywhere,” a state investigator testified Tuesday.
State Bureau of Investigations’ lead agent in the case, Jesse Thornton, was the only witness called by the state on Tuesday during the first courtroom appearances of five of the six suspects charged in the Sweet 16 shooting in downtown Dadeville.
In Thornton’s testimony, he described the chaotic scene that unfolded when a small, dimly lit room packed with more than 50 partygoers — mostly teenagers — erupted in gunfire at about 10:30 p.m. on April 15.
Four, including three teens, died in the shooting: Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18; Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, 17; Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins, 19; and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23. Thirty-two other people were injured, some critically.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigations indicated that seven handguns of four different calibers were fired, and two of those guns had been illegally altered to fire automatically. Thornton said police recovered 89 shell casings.
Tuskegee, Alabama, brothers Tyreese “Ty Reik” McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, were both arrested on April 18; Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn, Alabama, was arrested on April 19; Cousins Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee; and Willie George Brown Jr., 19, of Auburn, were arrested on April 20.
A 15-year-old juvenile from Tuskegee was also arrested April 20. Police have not released his name because of his age. All have been charged with four counts of reckless murder each.
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Five of the co-defendants allegedly admitted to investigators being at the Sweet 16 party and firing, Thornton said. Willie Brown Jr. did not admit to firing a weapon, Thornton added, but co-defendants said he did.
Tallapoosa District Judge Clayton Taylor said he would enter an order “within 24 hours,” after prosecutors argued Tuesday that the defendants be held without bond.
Willie Brown Jr. is also a suspect in an Auburn shooting, according to Thornton. Some spent rounds recovered in Dadeville matched casings found at a shooting that occurred later that night in Auburn.
One of the co-defendants, who was not identified in testimony, was wearing an ankle monitor while on bond for his alleged role in a Tuskegee shooting, Thornton said. The GPS tracker on the ankle monitor placed him at the Dadeville scene, the agent testified.
Two guns found on shooting victims
Two guns were recovered at the scene, with one that was fired on Holston’s chest and the other found, unfired, on Collins, Thornton said.
Thornton said it was unusual that a handgun would be on Holston’s chest, saying it was as if “someone placed it there.”
Thornton also testified that the suspects were not invited to the party but heard about it on social media and “met up” at a residence in Tuskegee before going to the party.
They traveled to the venue in different vehicles, he said. After the shooting, at least five of the six co-defendants “met up” again at a parking lot at a high school football stadium in Tallassee, Thornton said.
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Several people showed weapons at the party
Before the shooting, an adult announced that anyone over 18 who had guns would have to leave. Thornton said witnesses told investigators that before the announcement, several young men in the building had shown they had guns, or pulled up their shirts showing guns on their person.
The shooting started a few minutes after the adult asked that anyone with guns leave. The co-defendants were together in a rear corner of the room when the shooting began, Thornton said.
The packed 26-feet-by-38-feet studio had only one entrance and exit — the front doors — and the doors opened into the room, according to Thornton. The four bodies were found “…laid together, side by side,” near the front door, he said.
