VIENNA, Ga. – Authorities in rural southern Georgia continued searching Monday for suspects in a weekend shooting that killed two people and injured nearly three dozen others after gunfire broke out during a large block party celebrating a homecoming football win.
No arrests had been reported in Dooly County, where the sheriff said more than 50 shots were fired early Sunday in Vienna. More than 1,000 people were still gathered outdoors, celebrating well past midnight when the violence erupted.
Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy identified the victims as Ja’Quavion Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and Macaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville. Sara Lue, a spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said the men did not appear to be related.
Another 35 people were hurt, authorities said at a Sunday news conference. Most suffered gunshot wounds, while others were injured as people rushed to escape the scene. The sheriff said an unspecified number of victims were hospitalized in critical condition.
Investigators have not disclosed a possible motive or determined exactly how many people were struck by gunfire.
“At large parties with people from different places, not just your locals, sometimes problems come,” Peavy said Sunday.
Officials said the block party was neither sponsored by the school nor authorized by a city permit. Peavy said he had assigned additional deputies to patrol during the weekend because homecoming was expected to attract large numbers of alumni and visitors from outside the area.
The sheriff did not immediately respond to a phone message Monday. Lue said state investigators had no additional information to release. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation routinely assists rural communities with major cases.
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The shooting overshadowed what Peavy described as a large but otherwise peaceful celebration of Dooly County High School’s homecoming football victory. Vienna, a city of roughly 3,000 residents, is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Macon.
Revelers filled an area spanning four blocks, and Peavy said deputies were patrolling nearby. After the first shots rang out and officers moved toward the scene, additional gunfire erupted about a block away, he said.
“It was so many people,” Peavy said. “And it was just hard to figure out what was going on.”
Antoria Felton of Jonesboro was among those who traveled to Vienna for the weekend. She drove two hours with her daughter and six other girls, telling WMAZ-TV that the gathering initially appeared calm before “bullets were going everywhere.”
As she searched for her daughter and the other girls, Felton said she saw “kids laying on the ground had been shot.”
“The only thing I’m trying to do is find these girls,” Felton said. “Everybody scattered out everywhere, everybody running. It was terrifying.”
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