Alabama DA Tears Up at Press Conference On Sweet 16 Birthday Shooting: ‘Do Not Mess With Our Kids’

The district attorney for Alabama’s fifth judicial circuit was in anguish as he gave an update on the fatal shooting four days ago at a sweet 16 birthday party.

D.A. Mike Segrest spoke at a police press conference where officials announced the arrest of 16-year-old Travis McCullough and 17-year old Ty Reik McCullough, both from Tuskegee. The two were charged with reckless murder after the Dadeville shooting left four people dead and dozens of others reported injured.

As Segrest spoke of the ongoing investigation and other potential charges in connection with the shooting, he was brimming with visible emotion as he remarked that “there were so many kids in this venue.” He worried about the traumatic impact the shooting will have on the survivors, and he got increasingly choked up as he said “I’m gonna try not to get emotional” about what happened at the party.

That’s when Segrest told the story of how Alexis Dowdell’s birthday came to a tragic end:

One of the victims that wasn’t injured was Lexi, Lexi Dowdell. It was Lexi’s 16th birthday party. Sweet 16. There’s an uncut cake and unburned 16 candles that never got lit. Lexi’s brother was one of the victims. On her 16th birthday party, she’d been out by her brother as he took his last breath. That’s what we’re dealing with here. Those are what these victims went through.

The message that I want to send is I know some of these victims personally. Some of these kids are kids of friends of mine. People that I went to school with people that I played ball with, and against, in the community back in high school, and these are my kids. These are our kids. Don’t mess with our kids! Do not mess with our kids.

Watch above via CNN.