Mass shooting at party in Georgia leaves dozens injured and two dead

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Two people died and nearly three dozen were injured after a shooting at a homecoming weekend block party early on Sunday morning in southern Georgia, state law enforcement officials said.

A crowd of more than 1,000 people had gathered in Vienna when upwards of 50 shots were fired across at least two locations roughly a block apart, Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy told WMAZ-TV.

Peavy explained that those present were "going every direction" and that further gunfire broke out about one block away even while police officers were already present on the scene.

“We don’t know if it’s coming at us or someone else,” he said. “You just have to keep doing what you’re doing and hope you don’t get hit by gunfire.”

The incident took place over homecoming weekend for Dooly County High School.

The shooting was not at a school-sponsored event, said Sherrod Willaford, superintendent of the Dooly County School System.

“We recognize that its impact may reach many of our students, families, and staff,” he said in a statement. Schools will open Monday, he said, but additional safety measures have been put in place. He did not specify what they are.

Dooly County Sheriff’s Office deputies were on patrol at a neighborhood block party around 1:25 a.m. Sunday in Vienna when shots were fired, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

Vienna is about 130 miles (about 210 kilometers) south of Atlanta and about a 50-mile (80-kilometer) drive south on the Interstate 75 corridor from the central Georgia city of Macon, where authorities say 12 teens were wounded by gunfire during a confrontation between people at a birthday party last week at a city park.

Deputies found two people dead at the scene and multiple others who had been shot, officials said. Police did not specify how many of the 35 injured had been shot or provide any details about the injuries or their severity. The victims were taken to several hospitals for treatment, the GBI said.

Dooly County Coroner Brett Walls said the two men, ages 20 and 23, were pronounced dead at the scene with fatal gunshot wounds. He said multiple other people were also shot, calling the scene “horrific.”

Walls told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that multiple people were struck by bullets and roughly a dozen others were hurt while trying to flee.

“This doesn’t — it’s not supposed to — happen in a small town like that. It’s something you hear on the news in bigger cities,” Walls told the newspaper, adding hospitals were flooded with the injured. “And even in bigger cities, you don’t hear that kind of a number.”

Authorities have not said whether any suspects are in custody or being sought. No motive has been given for the shooting.

Vienna Mayor Eddie Daniels said the shooting was about a block from his house and he “saw a lot of blue lights.” Daniels said he hadn’t spoken with law enforcement officials yet and had no details about what had happened.

Daniels said the city hadn’t issued any kind of permit for the block party and he didn’t know if it was a homecoming party.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Lydia Bullard declined to answer questions about the shooting, saying it was an ongoing investigation.