Dadeville, Alabama, left without answers after deadly mass shooting

Dadeville Mayor Jimmy Frank Goodman Sr likened the mass shooting to a war zone

Few details have emerged about Saturday's deadly mass shooting in a small Alabama city - and locals are waiting patiently for answers.

Dadeville Mayor Jimmy Frank Goodman Sr was visibly shaken as he spoke in the lobby of city hall, just a few steps away from where the shooting happened.

He recalls receiving a call at about 23:00 on Saturday. "What happened after then and who did it, I have no idea," he told BBC News.

"When I got to the hospital it was chaos over there. There were people crying, bodies going into the emergency room and bloody clothes on the ground."

At least four people died and 32 others were injured in the shooting at Mahogany Masterpiece, a venue in a former bank in the old-fashioned brick-lined downtown.

But police have not yet released details of what happened inside the club, the name - or names - of the suspected assailant or assailants, or any hint as to what happened to them after the shooting.

On Monday evening the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said in a statement that their investigation was continuing and that handgun shell casings, but no high-powered rifle ammunition, had been recovered at the scene.

They said they were still working to establish a motive and possible suspects, and appealed to the public for help.

It is unclear how the shooting eventually ended.

The dance club where the mass shooting occured on Saturday night

Despite a lack of information that is unusual at this stage of an investigation, Mr Goodman urged calm and said he trusted the authorities to track down those responsible.

"I understand why they [police] are not putting out information. It just happened Saturday and today's just Monday. It takes time to bring things together," he said.

"The ones who were there, they aren't talking [to anybody else] because the authorities are talking to them," Mr Goodman said. He compared what he'd seen to his experience of a war zone.

"It's not grown-ups like it was in Vietnam, these are kids," he said. "They are schoolkids trying to graduate, trying to make their parents proud. It's devastating."

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The mayor's patience is shared by others we spoke to in the town of about 3,200.

"We have a lot of trust in law enforcement to take their time and get things right," said Theresa McKelvey, who owns a yarn store with her husband nearby.

On Monday morning there was little activity inside Mahogany Masterpiece, its windows now pockmarked with bullet holes.

Later, a cleaning crew arrived. A couple of people stopped by to lay floral tributes at the club's front door.

The venue of the Sweet 16 birthday party is pockmarked with bullet holes

At Dadeville High School, officials are considering what to do about graduation next month. Sporting events have been cancelled, and counsellors have been drafted in to help students make sense of the violence.

There is no indication when investigators will issue further updates - or when the town's patience might wear thin.

One man working a couple of doors down from the dance club expressed a flicker of frustration as he glanced towards the scene of the crime. He said he'd heard rumours about the killings, but refused to give his name.

"Somebody out there must know something," he said.

With reporting by North America producer Rebecca Hartman and correspondent Jessica Parker.