On Tuesday, an Alabama court ruled a juvenile suspect in connection with the April 15 Dadeville, Alabama, mass shooting will be tried as an adult.

The juvenile, who was 15 on the date of the shootings, was originally charged as a juvenile by law, but Segrest filed a motion asking the juvenile court to transfer the defendant to the Tallapoosa County Circuit Court to be tried.

“In the juvenile court, the maximum punishment that they would be able to give would be three years for this,” 5th Judicial Circuit district attorney Mike Segrest said in written press release. “The 15-year-old was practically the same age as the 16-year-old, and he needs to be subject to the same punishment.”

A transfer hearing was held in the juvenile court July 19, and Tuesday, juvenile court judge Kim Taylor entered an order transferring the defendant to the circuit court to be tried as an adult.

According to Segrest, the process will start from the beginning as it did with the other five defendants. First, an Aniah’s Law hearing will be held followed by presenting evidence to the grand jury.

“The charges will be the same that were presented on the others,” Segrest said.

He will be seeking indictments for four counts of reckless murder, 24 counts of first-degree assault and one count of third-degree assault. The grand jury returned indictments on all counts for all five other suspects on May 22.

Because there was a transfer hearing, the defendant will not be entitled to a preliminary hearing but Segrest does anticipate the defendant will file for youthful offender status if indictments are handed down.

The other five defendants are Johnny Letron Brown, 20, Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, all of Tuskegee; and Willie George Brown Jr., 19, and Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, both of Auburn.

Brown was denied youthful offender status at a hearing Aug. 17, while the others have hearings scheduled for Oct. 26.

These charges stem from a mass shooting in downtown Dadeville on April 15 that left four dead and 32 injured.

This article was originally published in The Alexander City Outlook newspaper. It’s republished here with permission.