Four people were killed and multiple others injured in a shooting that was tied to a birthday party in the small town of Dadeville, Alabama, the state law enforcement agency said at a news conference.
Local news reports said that more than 20 people had been injured in the shooting at a 'Sweet 16' party at a dance studio in the town, citing investigators on the scene.
The state agency declined to answer questions or provide further detail during the news conference.
"We're going to continue to work in a very methodical way to go through this scene, to look at the facts, and ensure that justice is brought to bear for the families," said Jeremy Burkett, a sergeant with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
The shooting occurred around 10.34pm yesterday (4.34am Irish time), according to the agency.
Officials provided no information about what led to the shooting, and it was not known if any suspects had been taken into custody.
"What has our nation come to when children cannot attend abirthday party without fear?" President Joe Biden said in a statement today.
Mr Biden called the rising gun violence in the US "outrageous and unacceptable," and urged Congress to pass laws that wouldmake firearms manufacturers more liable for gun violence, banassault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and require safestorage of firearms and background checks for gun sales.
Tallapoosa County Schools Superintendent Raymond Porter said at the news conference that counselling would be provided at area schools tomorrow and he asked local clergy to help families through the situation.
"We will make every effort to comfort those children and don't lose sight of the fact that those are the ones most impacted by this situation," Mr Porter said.
The FBI, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Fifth Circuit District Attorney's Office had also responded to the scene and were assisting with the investigation, according to a release from the state law enforcement agency.
'Everybody's grieving'
Annette Allen told the Montgomery Advertiser that her grandson Phil Dowdell was among those who died.
He had been celebrating his sister Alexis's 16th birthday when gunfire ripped through the party.
"He was a very, very humble child. Never messed with anybody. Always had a smile on his face," Ms Allen said of her grandson, a high school senior due to graduate within weeks.
She said his mother was also shot and wounded.
"Everybody's grieving," Ms Allen said of the small community of some 3,000 residents.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a Twitter post that she was staying "closely updated" by law enforcement as details emerged.
This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians. Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge.
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) April 16, 2023
"This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians," she wrote in the post. "Violent crime has NO place in our state."
The shooting occurred within weeks of two high-profile mass shootings in the nearby states of Tennessee and Kentucky, which prompted local leaders to call for tighter gun control measures last week.
Meanwhile, Republicans vying for their party's 2024 presidential nomination and other high profile party memberstried to prove themselves most supportive of gun rights withoutrestrictions in Indiana this weekend at the annual conference ofthe National Rifle Association (NRA), the country's largest gunlobby.
A bank employee shot dead five colleagues and wounded nine other people at his workplace in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday.
On 27 March, three nine-year-olds and three staff members were killed at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, by a former student.
Mass shootings have become commonplace in the US.
There have been more than 149 so far in 2023, the most at this point in the year since at least 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The nonprofit group defines a mass shooting as four or more shot or killed, not including the shooter.
