Two teenagers and a 20-year-old man have been arrested and charged with reckless murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party in rural Alabama, investigators announced Wednesday.
Tallapoosa County District Attorney Mike Segrest said two teens - Tyreese "Ty Reik" McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee - would be tried as adults. That's automatically required in Alabama for anyone 16 or older charged with murder. Investigators said Wednesday that Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn also was arrested on the same charge.
State law defines reckless murder as when someone causes a death by acting with extreme indifference to human life and recklessly engaging in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person. The birthday girl's brother, 18-year-old Philstavious "Phil" Dowdell of Camp Hill, died in his sister's arms. He and another victim, 17-year-old Shaunkivia Nicole "KeKe" Smith of Dadeville, were high school seniors. Families were left planning funerals instead of graduation celebrations.
"It's Lexi's 16th birthday party, Sweet Sixteen," Segrest said. "There's uncut cake and unburned 16 candles that never got lit. Lexi's brother was one of the victims. On her 16th birthday party, she knelt by her brother as he took his last breath." Segrest said dozens of teens from multiple nearby towns attended the party, spreading trauma across the region like a "wave."
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