One of the suspects in the deadly April shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville has been denied youthful offender status.

Johnny Letron Brown, 20, went before a judge Thursday morning to request he be tried as a juvenile.

Brown, a 2022 graduate of Reeltown High School who has no previous criminal record, is one of six people charged with reckless murder and assault in the shooting that left four people dead and at least 25 others injured.

According to the state’s Youthful Offender statute, if a person charged with a crime in an adult court in Alabama is under the age of 21 at the time of the alleged offense, that person has the right to make an application with the court requesting Youthful Offender status be granted.

Under the statute, a person deemed a youthful offender serves no more than three years if convicted, among other benefits.

Fifth Circuit Court of Alabama Judge Isaac Whorton denied Brown’s request.

The others charged with four counts of reckless murder are: 19-year-old Willie George Brown Jr. of Auburn; 20-year-old Wilson LaMar Hill Jr. of Auburn, and brothers Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, of Tuskeegee.

They are also charged with 24 counts each of first-degree assault for the 24 victims who sustained penetrating gunshots wounds, and one count of third-degree assault for a victim who sustained a superficial gunshot wound.

A 15-year-old is also charged as a juvenile.

The other suspects will have youthful offender hearings on Oct. 26. They remain held without bond.

After Thursday’s hearing, District Attorney Mike Segrest met with the victims and their families to answer questions and discuss the status of the case.

Those killed in the April 15 shooting at a Dadeville dance hall were Phil Dowdell, 18, Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith, 17, Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins, 19, and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23.

The majority of surviving gunshot victims, Segrest said, suffered multiple wounds each.

The four victims hurt that night, but not shot, suffered injuries such as a broken hand and a broken elbow.

Of the 28 victims, the oldest was 37-year-old LaTonya Allen, the mother of Alexis and Phil Dowdell.

The other victims were one 19-year-old, six 18-year-olds, three 17-year-olds, ten 16-year-olds, five 15-year-olds and two 14-year-olds.

Two of the most-seriously wounded survivors are Trinity Richards, 16, and Cara Johns, 16, close friends who have since been released from the hospital and are continuing their recovery.

Others injured include 16-year-old Bre Hutchinson, who was released from the hospital April 24 after being shot in the hip, Makai Simpson, a 15-year-old Opelika High School student athlete who dreams of playing in the NFL, and Kendarrius Heard, an 18-year- old senior at Dadeville High School football player who was left paralyzed from the shooting.

Authorities said 89 shell casings were recovered from the dance hall. Those shell casings came from seven different weapons.

Special Agent Jess Thornton, the lead investigator in the case, testified in a previous hearing there were 50 to 60 people inside the dance hall, which is 38-feet-long and 26-feet-wide.

At one point in the evening, a DJ’s speaker fell over, making a sound similar to a gunshot, Thornton said. When that happened, several of the young people there lifted their shirts to show they had guns.

LaTonya Allen, mother of Phil Dowdell and birthday girl Alexis Dowdell, said anyone over 18 or carrying a gun needed to leave.

Not long after that, shots rang out leaving “multiple shell casings, blood everywhere,” Thornton testified.

One of the guns was found sitting on the chest of Holston’s lifeless body. The gun had been fired, Thornton said.

Witnesses also said Holston at one point wore a ski mask.

“Most of the suspects said he fired first,” Thornton said.

Another gun was found in Collins’ waistband, but it had not been fired.

Those were the only two guns recovered from the scene. At least four different caliber weapons were fired, Thornton said. Those were a 9 millimeter, 22 caliber, 40 caliber and 45 caliber.

Witnesses reported hearing rapid fire and Thornton testified one defendant admitted his gun had been altered to be fully automatic and investigators believe another gun had also been converted to automatic.

The six defendants are all relatives or friends, Thornton said. They were not invited but knew of the party and met up there from Auburn and Tuskegee.

Of the six, only Willie Brown denied being at the party. Thornton said, however, shell casings from an unrelated incident in Auburn in which he is a suspect matched one used in Dadeville.

One of the juvenile suspects, it was not clear which, had an ankle monitor from an unrelated shooting in Tuskegee and its GPS tracker showed he was in Dadeville.

Charging documents against Hill state that he, Travis McCullough and Tyreese McCullough, who also goes by Ty Reik McCullough, were present and discharged firearms into the crowd, causing the deaths of the four victims.

The documents also stated Johnny Brown and Willie Brown were together that night and fired shots at the Mahogany’s Masterpiece dance studio, one block from the courthouse.

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.