A South Georgia block party left two dead and 35 wounded after more than 50 shots rang out early Sunday, and investigators still have no arrests.
Deputies were already on patrol at a crowded neighborhood gathering in Vienna, Georgia, around 1:25 a.m. when gunfire erupted on the 900 block of Pine Street. More shots followed about a block away while officers were still on the scene.
Fox News reported that two people were pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds and 35 injured victims were taken to hospitals. No suspects were in custody as the investigation continued.
The dead were identified as Jaquevion Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and Macaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville. Injured victims ranged in age from 14 to 51. Their conditions ran from stable to critical.
Most of the wounded suffered gunshot wounds. Several others were hit by cars or hurt in other ways as people fled the chaos.
Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy said more than 1,000 people had gathered. He described more than 50 shots fired in at least two locations roughly a block apart.
People were “going every direction,” Peavy said, even as deputies tried to respond. Additional gunfire broke out nearby while officers remained exposed.
At a Sunday press conference, Peavy described the danger facing his deputies in plain terms.
"We don’t know if it’s coming at us or someone else,"
Peavy said. He added another line that captured the risk of working a scene that was still live:
"You just have to keep doing what you’re doing and hope you don’t get hit by gunfire."
Vienna Mayor Eddie Daniels said the city had not issued any kind of permit for the block party. He did not know whether it was tied to homecoming.
The shooting fell over homecoming weekend for Dooly County High School. Superintendent Sherrod Willaford said it was not a school-sponsored event. That distinction did little to shield students and families from the fallout.
"We recognize that its impact may reach many of our students, families, and staff,"
Willaford said. Schools planned to open Monday with additional safety measures in place.
The sheriff’s office requested help from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. GBI officials confirmed the victim names, the injury count, and the age range, and said the incident remained under investigation.
As of the latest reporting, authorities had not identified a motive. They had not stated how many shooters were involved. No one had been arrested.
Peavy issued a direct public appeal to whoever opened fire.
"Please turn yourself in, because we're doing everything we can to find out who you are,"
he said.
Vienna sits in South Georgia, about 130 miles south of Atlanta and roughly a 50-mile drive south of Macon along the Interstate 75 corridor. The small-city setting did not spare it from large-scale street violence.
Only last week in Macon, 12 teenagers were wounded by gunfire during a confrontation at a birthday party in a city park. Two young men are now dead in Vienna, dozens more are hurt, and a thousand-person street gathering ended with deputies ducking fire they could not immediately pin down.
An unpermitted crowd, sustained gunfire, teen victims in the hospitals, and no one in handcuffs is not a mystery of geography. It is a failure of order that ordinary families are left to bury.
