What a waste. What a disgusting, horrific, God-awful waste of young lives.

BREAKING: Two suspects in last weekend's deadly shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama have been arrested, authorities say.

Both suspects are from Tuskegee. They are 17 and 16 years old. pic.twitter.com/mvclcJEmwS

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 19, 2023

Kids killing kids. I think, if you had taken a snap poll when word broke about this, most of us would have said, “I hate to say it but, I’ll bet they all know who was doing the shooting.”

Two teenage brothers have been charged with four counts of reckless murder in the Saturday night shooting at a Dadeville birthday party that killed four young people and injured 32 others.

Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee, have each been charged as adults with four counts of reckless murder.

The two were taken into custody about 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Under Alabama law, the crime of reckless murder is committed when a person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person other than himself or herself and causes the death of another person.

The juvenile suspects, while charged as adults, are going to have an Aniah’s Law hearing as prosecutors are requesting they be held without bail. The law is named for a beautiful young lady who was kidnapped and murdered by a man who should have been locked up instead of released on bail.

…Amendment 1 came in response to a crime that attracted statewide attention. Aniah Blanchard, a 19-year-old college student from Homewood, was abducted from a convenience store in Auburn in October 2019. A month later, authorities found Blanchard’s body in rural Macon County.

The man charged in Blanchard’s kidnapping and murder, Ibraheem Yazeed, had been released from jail on a $280,000 bond after being charged with kidnapping, robbery and attempted murder from a January 2019 incident in Montgomery.

…Amendment 1 adds murder, kidnapping in the first degree, rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree, sexual torture, domestic violence in the first degree, human trafficking in the first degree, burglary in the first degree, arson in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, terrorism, and aggravated abuse of a child under age 6 as charges for which a defendant could be held without bail.

The chances are pretty good they all knew each other…

…Dadeville is a town of about 3,000 in Tallapoosa County and its high school has about 485 students. Like the rest of Dadeville, the school is tucked away just out of view off a busy highway that runs from Birmingham to Auburn.

…which makes the senseless violence even more inexcusable and inconceivable. Those two towns are only about 30 miles apart.

What kind of out-of-control, soulless brain does it take to be able to kill four people and wind up being responsible for hurting 32 (some shot, some in the mad scramble) more? At a birthday party?

…Burkett said he could not disclose where the teens were arrested or where they are being held. Burkett would not say how many guns were fired or how many shots were fired.

He said investigators are not yet releasing a motive, nor saying how many shooters they believe were involved.

…In addition to the four homicides, there are multiple other victims. At least four of the 32 victims remain hospitalized in critical condition. More charges will be filed, Segrest said.

”When I tell you this is just the tip of the iceburg…we’re going to make sure everyone of those victims has justice and not just the deceased,’’ Segrest said.

Why are we wasting our time discussing reparations when the real challenge facing black America is how do we prevent self-extermination in the case of this tragic event.

— Bob Woodson (@BobWoodson) April 17, 2023

Their state senator had some strong, wise words.

…Sen. Jay Hovey, R-Auburn, whose District 27 includes Dadeville and most of Tallapoosa County, read the names of the four young people killed: Philstavious Dowdell; Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith; Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins; and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston. Thirty-two others were injured, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

“I’ve been honored to get to know the good people of Dadeville and Tallapoosa County over the last year and my heart goes out to entire community in the wake of these tragic events,” said Hovey, who began his first term in November. “People are going to try to politicize this event, as so many others that break our hearts. But I’m going to tell you now, and you’ll hear me say over and over again over the next years that we work together, that we’re never going to be able to legislate morality.

“The evil in this world that continues to devastate the communities across the country can only be defeated in the hearts and minds and homes and churches of these communities. There will be discussions on this floor and in legislative bodies across this country about the responsibility of legislators. And while of course we have the responsibility to do everything we can to protect our communities, this war will only be won by changing hearts.”

He’s right. 16 and 17-year-olds aren’t legally allowed to have these weapons – there are plenty of laws already. Who keeps providing these weapons to children, whether it’s in Dadeville or Philadelphia or Chicago? The story is the exact same every single time.

…News of the arrests did not immediately soften the anger of Frederick Morgan, a pressure washer and painter from nearby Camp Hill.

…“I’m really pissed,” Morgan said. “Because it’s sad. They are allowing these children to walk around here toting guns. They need to get the ones who are putting these guns in these children’s hands. They need to go at them. These children can’t get these guns until they go to a place and buy these guns. They need to bring a law to stop kids from buying a gun. A kid needs to be 25 or 30 years old, know the law, and know what a gun means. These were children. Children killing children. We don’t need that. This is a little small community. We don’t need that.”

Kids have to stop killing kids. The first step would be breaking the social acceptance of it in their age group. Violence can’t be the default reaction for everything.

It can’t be their norm anymore.

LIFE has to mean something.

UPDATE: A third arrest has been announced.

A third suspect was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with the shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party that killed four and injured 32 others.

Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn, was taken into custody about 2:30 p.m., according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. He is charged with four counts of reckless murder.