A 15-year-old boy will be held without bond after a judge last week determined he will be charged as an adult in the deadly April shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville.

Sherman Peters, who will turn 16 in December, had an Aniah’s Law bond hearing on Monday.

He is one of six suspects charged with four counts of reckless murder, 24 counts of first-degree assault for the 24 victims who sustained penetrating gunshot wounds, and one count of third-degree assault for a victim who sustained a superficial gunshot wound.

Here is full coverage of the case

The other five charged are: 19-year-old Willie George Brown Jr. of Auburn; 20-year-old Wilson LaMar Hill Jr. of Auburn, Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Reeltown, and brothers Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, of Tuskegee.

Aniah’s Law, passed in 2022, adds a list of serious crimes other than capital offenses for which a defendant could be held without bail before trial. Aniah Blanchard, a 19-year-old college student from Homewood, was abducted from a convenience store in Auburn in 2019 and found dead a month later.

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.

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.

On Tuesday, District Judge William Whorton ruled that Peters remain held without bond.

“The court finds from the testimony that the defendant, a minor, possessed a 9mm firearm at the scene and made a subsequent statement to law enforcement confirming that he fired the weapon multiple times inside the building,’’ the judge wrote.

“The nature and circumstances of the alleged charge weigh very heavily against the defendant being granted bond,’’ Whorton wrote.

The judge noted that Peters faces the possibility of multiple life sentences if convicted, which is highly relevant to the risk of non-appearance in court.

The evidence against the teen is compelling, the judge said, and not condition or combination of conditions of release would reasonably ensure Peters’ appearance in court or protect the safety of the community.

Whorton also ordered Peters be allowed to continue his mental health treatment while incarcerated and that his counselor should have reasonable access to him to continue that treatment.

Special Agent Jess Thornton, the lead investigator in the case, testified in Monday’s bond hearing.

In a previous hearing, Thornton said 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 mm, 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.

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.