12 teenagers shot as two groups trade fire at Macon park

Twelve teenagers were shot when two groups opened fire on each other during a birthday party at Carolyn Crayton Park in Macon, Georgia, early Sunday, Sept. 27, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said. Two of the wounded, an 18-year-old male and a 17-year-old male, were in critical condition, and the other 10 were stable. No arrests have been made.

Deputies were sent to the park at 12:06 a.m. Sunday after reports of gunfire at what the sheriff's office described as a large gathering. While deputies were on the way, the wounded were already arriving at a local hospital in personal vehicles, the sheriff's office said.

All of the wounded were part of the birthday group, Davis said, and their ages ran from 17 to 19. The park is in Macon, about 85 miles southeast of Atlanta. Dozens of people were gathered near the skate park when the gunfire started. Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, the sheriff said he "can't remember the last time we've had this many people shot at one time."

How the party ended up at the park

The gathering started as a celebration for a woman turning 18 at an Airbnb in Jones County, which neighbors Bibb County. The property owner told the group to leave several hours before the shooting, after becoming concerned about their behavior and receiving information that firearms were at the house, according to BNO News. The group, which included high school students, then moved to Carolyn Crayton Park in Macon and gathered near the skate park.

A large group was gathered near the skate park when a second group arrived across the street, investigators said. The two sides exchanged words, pulled out firearms and opened fire on each other. The sheriff's office has not released the names of anyone involved or said who fired first.

Surveillance video from the park shows an eruption of gunfire that lasted about 30 seconds as people fled the area, The Associated Press reported.

Students from Central High School and Northeast High School were among those at the party, Davis said. Three Northeast football players are among the injured, the sheriff said at his briefing, according to BNO News. Authorities believe everyone who was shot belonged to the birthday gathering, and that the people involved live in Macon or elsewhere in Middle Georgia rather than having traveled from outside the region.

The sheriff's office initially counted 11 people shot, the figure given in the hours after the gunfire. The total rose to 12 after a 19-year-old man arrived at the hospital on Sunday afternoon, the department said, and he was counted among the victims of the park shooting.

Sheriff describes an exchange of gunfire

Davis set out the sequence for reporters on Sunday, saying the confrontation began when a second group arrived. Investigators were still working out the timeline and how the two groups were related to each other and what prompted the hostilities, he said.

Both groups exchanged words, brandished firearms and then began firing at each other.

There is no indication that any of the people who were injured took part in the gunfire, Davis said at the news conference. Investigators have not established a motive for the confrontation between the two groups.

• Four 18-year-old males, according to the Bibb County Sheriff's Office
• Five 17-year-old males, the largest group among the wounded
• Two 18-year-old females
• One 19-year-old male, who arrived at the hospital on Sunday afternoon

Medical staff reported that one 18-year-old male and one 17-year-old male were in critical but stable condition, the sheriff's office said, while the other 10 victims were stable. The 19-year-old man who reached the hospital later in the day was among those listed as stable. The names of the victims have not been released.

The hospital's emergency center was placed on lockdown as the wounded arrived. A large number of vehicles, along with family and friends of the victims, flooded the area around the medical facility, according to the sheriff's office, and staff taped off the area. Emergency notifications had alerted deputies that victims were turning up there in personal cars.

Vehicles towed and witnesses taken in

Deputies took seven vehicles to the crime lab for examination, four that had carried victims to the hospital and three that were left behind at the park. Several firearms were involved in the shooting, and investigators recovered numerous spent shell casings at the scene, according to BNO News.

Ten potential witnesses were identified and taken to the Criminal Investigation Division for interviews, the sheriff's office said. Teenagers were among those brought to investigators' offices. Investigators have not disclosed what the argument between the two groups was about, or how the two groups came to be at the park at the same time.

Davis said investigators had several persons of interest but that no arrests were immediately made. He told reporters that people should expect to see far more deputies in parts of the community over the coming days, saying there would be "some heavy police presences in some places coming up over the next few days as we make some arrests in this."

Macon residents react to the park shooting

Carolyn Crayton Park, whose skate park is a popular community gathering spot, drew a crowd of teenagers on Saturday night. Twelve of them, ages 17 to 19, were shot just after midnight Sunday, when the birthday gathering and a second group that arrived across the street opened fire on each other. Two remained in critical but stable condition. Residents who spoke with FOX 5 Atlanta said the violence itself was no longer a shock, but the setting was.

That's horrible. I bring my kids here almost every day to skate and hang out.

Tony Arnold, another Macon resident, told the station he was not surprised by the shooting given the violence in the city recently, and said responsibility starts at home with parents knowing where their children are at all times. Park visitors also called for more patrols, saying officers are rarely seen driving through the grounds. "We need to figure something out to kind of curtail the violence that's been going on lately," Arnold said.

1. Several hours before midnight: the group is told to leave a rented Airbnb in Jones County
2. Shortly after midnight Sunday: two groups exchange gunfire near the skate park
3. 12:06 a.m.: deputies respond to reports of a shooting at a large gathering
4. Sunday afternoon: a 19-year-old man arrives at the hospital as the 12th person wounded

Investigators are also examining information suggesting that some of the people involved may be connected to earlier shootings in the area, including one on Anthony Road that injured five people on Sept. 23, BNO News reported. Treyvon Antwan Deshazier, 20, was arrested in connection with that shooting. No connection between the two cases has been established publicly.

The FBI is assisting the sheriff's office because of the number of people involved, CBS News reported, though Davis said all the evidence gathered so far indicates the shooting was local. The sheriff's office has also been in contact with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about assistance, according to BNO News.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Bibb County Sheriff's Office at 478-751-7500, investigators said. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.

What investigators have not said

No suspects have been publicly identified, and investigators have not said how the two groups knew one another. Deputies are still searching for suspects, the sheriff's office said. Surveillance footage from the park and the accounts gathered from the 10 witnesses are among the material investigators are working through, and the case remains active.

A separate, permitted high school reunion had been held at the park on Saturday evening and ended around 10 p.m., according to BNO News, and investigators believe those attendees had left before the birthday group arrived and before the shooting started. At the news conference, Davis called it "a horrific situation" and said his investigators are "working tirelessly."