October 06, 2026
50 Shots, 1,000 People: Homecoming Block Party Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 35 Hurt in Vienna, Georgia
Headline card by The Night Desk (no publicly released scene photos attributed yet)
50 Shots, 1,000 People: Homecoming Block Party Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 35 Hurt in Vienna, Georgia
VIENNA, Georgia — A homecoming weekend block party in this small south Georgia town turned into a killing field just after 1 a.m. Sunday, when more than 50 shots rang out across a crowd of over 1,000 people, leaving two men dead and 35 others injured.
Deputies with the Dooly County Sheriff's Office were already on patrol at the neighborhood block party on the 900 block of Pine Street when the gunfire started around 1:25 a.m. Sunday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
The shooting erupted in at least two locations about a block apart. People were "going every direction," Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy told WMAZ-TV. Even while deputies were on the scene, more gunfire erupted about a block away.
"We don't know if it's coming at us or someone else," Peavy said. "You just have to keep doing what you're doing and hope you don't get hit by gunfire."
The victims
Peavy identified the two people killed as 21-year-old Jaquevion Jackson of Cordele and 23-year-old Macaleb Jackson of Hawkinsville, Georgia. He did not say whether the two were related. Dooly County Coroner Brett Walls pronounced both men dead at the scene of fatal gunshot wounds and called the scene "horrific."
The 35 injured ranged in age from 14 to 51 and were taken to several regional hospitals, Peavy said. Some were in critical condition Sunday evening and others were stable. GBI Director Chris Hosey said Sunday evening that some of the three dozen injured had gunshot wounds, but the bureau could not provide an exact number. Walls told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that multiple people were struck by bullets and roughly a dozen others were hurt while trying to flee.
"It's not supposed to happen in a small town like that," Walls said. "It's something you hear on the news in bigger cities. And even in bigger cities, you don't hear that kind of a number."
What we know about the gathering
The incident took place over homecoming weekend for Dooly County High School, but it was not 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," Willaford said in a statement. Schools opened Monday with additional safety measures in place.
Vienna Mayor Eddie Daniels said the shooting happened about a block from his house — he "saw a lot of blue lights." He said the city had not issued any kind of permit for the block party.
The investigation
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation. No arrests have been made, and authorities have not given a possible motive. GBI spokesperson Lydia Bullard declined to answer questions about the shooting, saying it was an ongoing investigation.
Vienna is about 130 miles south of Atlanta. The shooting came days after a separate incident in Macon, about 50 miles north, where 12 teens were wounded by gunfire during a confrontation between people at a birthday party in a city park.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or the Dooly County Sheriff's Office.
Source: Associated Press — read the original report
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