Spencer Platt
An impromptu block party turned tragic after 14 people were shot, leaving two dead and 12 injured last night/early this morning.
Apparently, hundreds of people were in the street when five people were struck by vehicles, receiving several injuries but not life threatening. Officers responded to a call of a pedestrian hit around 12:30am, when they heard several gunshots while on the way to the scene. When they got to the scene, officers found a woman with a gunshot wound lying in Beatties Ford Rd. She died at the scene.
Eight other people were shot and taken to the hospital where one of them died. A witness said that the gathering was an extension of a #Juneteenth celebration earlier in the week. “The results of it just kind of got out of hand, and it was something that we never want to see either as a community or police department, so it’s a very, very unfortunate situation” says a police officer. Kind of got out of hand? More like, out of control.
Social media users are saying the incident sparked from someone lighting fireworks and it landed on some of the attendees. Witnesses say there were more than 20 shots being fired. “I heard about 60 or 70 shots, sounded lie, people were running everywhere, cars were leaving. It’s just sad someone took something that was an event that was supposed to celebrate and turned it into a massacre, a nightmare for families” says another witness.
We do not have exact details or names of those involved but will continue to update this story with more information as it comes. We need to remain safe and remember the true meaning of what we are all fighting for in this country.
