Georgia Shooting
Gunfire at a Georgia block party kills two people and wounds 35 others early Sunday.
Early Sunday, gunfire tore through a crowded block party in Vienna, Georgia. Two people died. Thirty-five others were wounded.
More than 1,000 people had gathered when shots rang out just after 1:25 a.m., Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy said, according to Fox News. Peavy said more than 50 shots were fired in at least two locations about a block apart. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the dead as JaQuevion Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and Macaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville, NBC News reported. Each man took a single gunshot wound, Dooly County Coroner Brett Watts told NBC News. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
Injury counts varied by outlet. Fox News and NBC News both put the number wounded at 35, most by gunfire, with some hurt by cars or in the scramble to flee. The Guardian reported at least 25 people hospitalized, with Peavy saying the toll may have reached 35. Ages of the injured ranged from 14 to 51, the GBI said, with conditions from stable to critical.
The party fell on homecoming weekend for Dooly County High School. It was not school-sponsored, schools superintendent Sherrod Willaford said, Fox News reported. Vienna Mayor Eddie Daniels said the city had issued no permit for the gathering and did not know if it was tied to homecoming, according to Fox News. Peavy told NBC News the celebration spanned four blocks, with deputies patrolling at the time.
No arrests by Sunday night. GBI spokesperson Lydia Bullard called the investigation "active and ongoing" in a statement to NBC News. Dooly County schools planned to open Monday with additional safety measures in place, Fox News reported.
Two mass shootings hit over the weekend. A 12-year-old girl was shot and killed Saturday at a Baltimore park, The Guardian noted. At least 355 mass shootings have occurred in the US this year, The Guardian reported, citing the Gun Violence Archive.
Peavy described the scene as officers tried to control a panicked crowd while more gunfire broke out nearby. "We don't know if it's coming at us or someone else," he said, according to Fox News. "You just have to keep doing what you're doing and hope you don't get hit by gunfire."