Two high school cheerleaders from the same school are winning their fights for their lives after being shot during a sweet 16 party in Dadeville, Alabama, on April 15.
Who Was Shot?
Cara Johns and Trinity Richards suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including head wounds, when gunmen opened fire during a teenage girl’s birthday party. The two girls are improving after their parents initially were told their injuries might not be survivable.
The shooting left four people dead and 32 others hurt, including 15 teenagers who suffered gunshot wounds.
Sweet 16 Party Gone Wrong
Friends and family gathered for Alexis Dowdell’s sweet 16 celebration in the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio in the small town of about 3,200 people on April 15. With the party well underway, at one point Alexis’ mother made an announcement to the crowd of some 60 people saying there shouldn’t be any guns at the venue after hearing a rumor that someone was armed. Then, around 10:30 p.m., dozens of gunshots abruptly turned a fun celebration into crime scene. Witnesses reportedly said there was not a fight or disturbance before the shooting started.
Among those killed were Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, Alexis’ 18-year-old brother; Marsiah Emmanuel Collins, 19; Shaunkivia “Keke” Nicole Smith, 17; and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23, according to the Tallapoosa County coroner.
Johns and Richards, who were cheerleader squad mates at Pike Road High School about an hour away from Dadeville, were among the five people left critically injured by the barrage. Trinity’s mother, Cheryl Sledge Richards, described on a GoFundMe page what the chaotic scene immediately after the shooting was like for her 16-year-old daughter.
“A medic on the scene contacted us through friends on social media to tell us that when he encountered Trinity he observed her agonal breathing, gasping for air every 15 seconds or so. When this occurs they expect a dying brain, heart attack or stroke,” Richards wrote on the fundraising page she started. “He said when triaged they had coded her as being beyond help but he saw something special in her as she lay there dying. He decided to provide her with an airway to save her life. We are grateful to him for that and praise God for guiding him.”
Trinity was hit by a bullet that entered near her right ear and traveled toward the front of her head. Left unable to speak or breathe on her own at first, by May 4 she’d progressed so far she was able to sit up and order a Starbucks coffee, AL.com reported.
According to Johns’ GoFundMe page, she is a junior in high school, on the cheerleading team, and had a part-time job at a local restaurant. The 16-year-old also remains in critical condition and “tubes are connected to her little arms and other parts of her body while machines beep and gurgle.”
Johns was reportedly taken off the ventilator and was able to breathe on her own as of May 2, according to Facebook post by her father Justin Johns. He also said that the stomach bleeding was under control and the blood clots disappeared.
“When I first walked into the room this morning she smiled at me which was a touching moment for me she knows who I am and she also knows a lot more,” he wrote on Facebook.
Johns’ GoFundMe account reached over $13,000 in donations and Richards has reached over $8,000.
Fighting For Justice
According to CNN, six people were arrested and face four counts of reckless murder charges.
The six people arrested were Willie George Brown Jr., 19; Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee; Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn; Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee; and another 15-year-old from Tuskegee whose identity was not released because of his age.
Police stated that all suspects except the 15-year-old were being held without bond in the Tallapoosa County Jail.
John Letron Brown’s mother Amanda Riley says her son is innocent, has a clean criminal record, and was set to college football this fall at Faulkner University, a NAIA school in Montgomery.
“He didn’t do any shooting. When the firearms started firing off, he got down on the floor,” she said to CBS. “My kids don’t carry weapons, I’m going to tell you that right now. The FBI just searched my house. They couldn’t find one weapon in my house. They didn’t find one bullet in my house and in my shed out back.”
A spokesperson for the school insisted in a statement that Brown was not an incoming student-athlete: “This young man was never headed to our university at all this fall.”
He along with the other five suspects still face murder charges.
Cheryl Sledge Richards wants to know why this atrocity happened.
“There were children dancing, singing, laughing. What are you thinking when you decide to shoot? I don’t understand that,’’ she told AL.com last week.
“We’ve waited to hear what the reason was but it doesn’t matter because whatever they end up saying, it’s not going to make any sense.”