An Alabama hospital official said Monday morning that 15 wounded teens were rushed into the emergency rooms following a mass shooting during a sweet 16 birthday party Saturday night that left four dead and 28 others wounded.
Heidi Smith, director of marketing for Ivy Creek Healthcare, which owns the Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville, told reporters that all 15 teens rushed to its emergency rooms had suffered gunshot wounds.
"It’s very traumatic in a health care setting and emergency room setting when you have one gunshot wound come through. But when you have 15, and they’re all teenagers, our staff has been through a lot," Smith said, praising the hospital staff as heroes.
Smith said there were no fatalities at the hospital. Six of the teens were treated and released, while the nine others had to be transported to other hospitals. Of those nine, four were in stable condition and five were in critical condition.
ALABAMA MASS SHOOTING: POLICE CONFIRM FOUR DEAD, 28 INJURED; NO WORD ON SUSPECTS
However, Smith said inclement weather prevented the hospital’s helicopter from taking off, which delayed the transfer of the wounded patients.
Dadeville Mayor Frank Goodman said he was in bed asleep when a council member called him just before 11 p.m. Saturday. He said he went to Lake Martin Community Hospital and described the scene as "chaotic."
"There were people running around," Goodman said. "They were crying and screaming. There were police cars everywhere, there were ambulances everywhere. People were trying to find out about their loved ones. That was a scene, where we never had anything like this happen in our city before."
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Alabama law enforcement officers on Sunday implored the community to come forward with information about the shooting that erupted at a dance studio in downtown Dadeville.
Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency briefed reporters twice on Sunday but did not take questions. He did not say if a suspect was in custody or if investigators knew about any motivation.
Among those killed was Dadeville High School senior Phil Dowell, who planned to play college football and was celebrating his sister's 16th birthday.
Dadeville is a city of 3,200 residents, which is about 57 miles northeast of Montgomery, Alabama.
Fox Digital reached out to Dadeville police for information regarding the search for the suspect but did not immediately hear back.
