An 18th birthday party turned chaotic as twelve people were shot when two groups exchanged gunfire in a park.
Shots were fired early on Sunday morning, September 27, shortly after midnight at Carolyn Crayton Park in Macon, Bibb County, in the US state of Georgia.
Sheriff David Davis said during a news conference that a group of young people went to the park to celebrate a woman’s 18th birthday after getting kicked out of a home rented for the party several hours earlier.
At some point, another group showed up at the park and a confrontation occurred.
Davis explained: “Both groups exchanged words, brandished firearms and then began firing at each other.”
Investigators were still trying to determine how the two groups were related to each other and what prompted hostilities.
Surveillance video from the park shows a shootout that lasted about 30 seconds as people fled the area.
Deputies responded to the park and learned that victims had been transported to a nearby hospital in personal vehicles.
One 19-year-old male, four 18-year-old males, five 17-year-old males and two 18-year-old females were treated for injuries. Two of the people were in critical condition, and the others were stable.
“There’s no indication that any of these individuals who were injured at this time participated in the gunfire,” Davis said.
No arrests were immediately made, but the sheriff said investigators had several persons of interest.
Deputies impounded four vehicles that brought victims to the hospital and three that were left at the park. They also interviewed 10 witnesses.
“There’s going to be some heavy police presences in some places coming up over the next few days as we make some arrests in this,” Davis said.
Also Sunday morning, police in Detroit responded to an after-hours strip club where an argument led to gunfire, k!lling three and wounding four. No arrests were immediately announced.