Sheriff names two men killed at a Vienna homecoming block party; no one is under arrest

A casualty count and two names tell a community who died. They do not identify who fired. GBI Director Chris Hosey said Sunday evening that some of the injured had gunshot wounds and that he could not say how many. Coroner Brett Walls told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that roughly a dozen other people were hurt trying to flee. The file the GBI is building is what the Cordele Judicial Circuit district attorney will eventually review. Until a warrant names a person, there is no defendant for a court to judge.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Dooly County deputies who were patrolling the party heard shots about 1:25 a.m. from the 900 block of Pine Street. Deputies found two people dead in the 600 block of Pine Street, and the GBI said both were pronounced dead at the scene. The Associated Press reported that Peavy identified them as Jaquevion Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and Macaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville. Walls told the AP both men died of gunshot wounds. The GBI said both will be autopsied at its medical examiner's office.

Peavy told WMAZ that more than 1,000 people had gathered and that more than 50 shots were fired in at least two places about a block apart. He told the AP the injured ranged in age from 14 to 51, that some were critical Sunday evening, and that others were stable. Hosey said the bureau was still sorting out how many of the 35 injured people were shot. Walls told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that multiple people were struck by bullets and that roughly a dozen others were hurt while trying to leave. USA TODAY reported that Peavy said some people were hit by vehicles as the crowd scattered. The AP reported that the gathering fell on homecoming weekend for Dooly County High School. Superintendent Sherrod Willaford said it was not a school-sponsored event, and that schools would open Monday with added safety steps he did not describe.

No arrest had been reported by Sunday evening, and authorities had not given a motive. The GBI said that when the investigation is finished, the file will go to the Cordele Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office. No one has been charged. Anyone later accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.