by Mary Spiller
May 25, 2024
One person was fatally shot in Louisville, Alabama, at a Freaknik-inspired party.
Sheriff and police authorities have been overwhelmed by all the people flooding into Louisville, Alabama, for Freaknik-inspired parties. The rural town of just 600 people saw nearly 1,000 people flood the streets to party recently for one such party. This one turned deadly.
The authorities reported being unprepared for the amount of traffic they received in Louisville.
Lieutenant of the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office, Tracy Reese, said “I talked to the promoter, and she said she sold wristbands, and she knew how many there were. She said it was approximately 900 people, which is a large crowd for us. There aren’t even 900 people who live in Louisville.”
All the buzz and attention surrounding Freaknik started with flyers circulating of a Freaknik-style block party happening in a Louisville open field. It got further reach when details were put out on social media about the party. The posts gained traction with the release of the new Freaknik documentary, but the sheriff of Barbour County had no idea the event was going to happen.
The Louisville Freaknik-style party, unfortunately, got out of hand on its opening night. Kenyatta Snell, 25, was one of the people invited to attend.
Kenyatta’s mother said, “She told me she was going to Freaknik. That’s what they called it.”
The young girl’s mother continued to tell the outlet that she was concerned about all the weapons present when they arrived so she left. “There were too many guns out here for me,” she said.
Unfortunately, the mother would never hear from her daughter again after 9:30 at night.
When Kenyatta and her friends returned to the party in Louisville, a shooting broke out and Kenyatta was tragically killed.
“We scanned the whole property and collected 40 to 50 shell casings,” Lt. Reese revealed. “Based on where we picked up the shell casings, there was a group on this side and a group on this side, and they appeared to just be shooting at each other. We still don’t know what started it.”
This is just one in a series of Freaknik-themed parties getting out of hand in Alabama.
In Selma, the mayor suspended the police chief and placed him on administrative leave after several shootings occurred. Mayor James Perkins Jr. went public with his grievances about the way police failed to handle the Freaknik parties. He said that the authorities needed a change in leadership after Selma officers didn’t adequately respond to violence breaking out during “Freaknik-style street parties.”
“People are throwing regular illegal Freaknik-style street parties within feet of the police department. There is video evidence,” Perkins said. “Recently, one such Freaknik party ended with over 100 shots fired.”
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