2 dead, 35 injured in shooting at Georgia block party

Two people are dead and another 35 were injured after a shooting broke out at a neighborhood block party in southern Georgia, authorities said. Twenty-five of those injured were hospitalized, officials told local media.

Shots were fired in the early hours of Sunday morning in the city of Vienna, with sheriff’s deputies hearing them ring out at around 1:25 a.m. local time while patrolling the area, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

Deputies discovered multiple people had been hit by gunfire when they arrived at the site of the shooting on Pine Street, according to investigators. Victims were taken to several different hospitals in the area, they said.

The two individuals who were fatally wounded had been found several blocks away from the location on Pine Street where investigators said the shooting originated.

Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy told CBS affiliate WMAZ that more than 1,000 people had gathered along Pine Street for the block party, which was held to celebrate homecoming. Peavy said at least 50 shots were fired in total, at two different locations about one block apart. He said some people were hit by cars as drivers scrambled to leave the area, WMAZ reported.

The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct autopsies on both of the deceased, each of whom was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities haven’t released information about a possible suspect or potential motive behind the shooting. Neither the dead nor the injured individuals have been publicly identified, either.

Dooly County Coroner Brett Walls told CBS News the two killed were both men, ages 20 and 23. 

The GBI said it joined the probe at the request of the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office, which initially responded to the incident. The investigation was “active and ongoing” later on Sunday, investigators said. 

Dooly County includes the city of Vienna, which is about 50 miles south of Macon.