20 people shot at Alabama birthday party

AFP | Washington                                  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

At least 20 people were shot and wounded late Saturday at a Sweet 16 birthday party in the southern US state of Alabama, local media reported.

Television station WRBL early Sunday reported heavy police activity and crime scene tape around a building in Dadeville, Alabama, where it said white sheets could be seen covering parts of the floor.

Law enforcement agencies have not publicly confirmed any injuries or fatalities, but local media and witnesses have said several wounded people, the majority of them teens, were transported to local hospitals for medical attention.

WRBL reported that during a preliminary investigation, police and sheriff's office investigators suspected that an altercation led to the shooting at a teen's birthday party, at around 10:30 pm Saturday (0330 GMT Sunday).

The United States, a country of around 330 million people, is awash with some 400 million guns, and deadly mass shootings are a regular occurrence.

Police late Saturday confirmed two people were killed and four others wounded in a shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, the same city were a gunman slaughtered five people at a bank last Monday.