Vienna Homecoming Block Party Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 35 Injured; Victims Identified

VIENNA, Ga. Two men were killed and 35 other people were injured after gunfire erupted during a large neighborhood block party in Vienna early Sunday, turning a homecoming weekend celebration into a major criminal investigation.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Dooly County Sheriff’s Office deputies were already patrolling the gathering when shots were fired from the 900 block of Pine Street at about 1:25 a.m. on October 4.

Deputies moved toward the gunfire and found multiple injured people. Two victims were located in the 600 block of Pine Street and pronounced dead at the scene.

The two men killed have been identified

In an updated release Sunday, the GBI identified the men killed as Ja’Quavion Aderious Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and Macaleb Malik Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville.

The agency said the conditions of the 35 injured victims ranged from stable to critical.

The GBI’s original release said multiple people had been shot. Later reporting from the scene indicated that some of the injured were also hurt during the rush to escape, meaning the total of 35 injured should not be read as 35 confirmed gunshot victims.

A crowd of more than 1,000 people

The shooting happened during an unofficial neighborhood block party connected to homecoming weekend in Dooly County. Authorities said more than 1,000 people had gathered in the area.

Associated Press reporting from an evening law-enforcement briefing said the party stretched across several blocks and that more than 50 shots were fired from at least two locations about a block apart.

The scale of the crowd complicated the immediate response. Deputies had to move through people fleeing in multiple directions while emergency crews transported victims to hospitals across the region.

No arrests or motive announced

As of early Monday, authorities had not announced an arrest or publicly identified a suspect.

Investigators also had not established a motive. GBI Director Chris Hosey said investigators were still working to identify the people involved and determine what led to the shooting.

The GBI has described the investigation as active and ongoing.

The Georgia inside the story

Vienna is a small South Georgia city, which makes an incident involving 37 dead or injured victims especially significant for the community and the surrounding region.

The shooting also shows the challenge local agencies can face when a large, informal gathering suddenly becomes a mass-casualty scene. Deputies who had been assigned to monitor the crowd were forced within moments to shift from event security to lifesaving response, scene control and an investigation spread across multiple blocks.

The Georgia inside this story is the scale of what a single burst of violence can demand from a small community: local deputies, regional hospitals, state investigators and families across several cities are now connected to the same case.

How to provide information

Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Perry at 478-987-4545.

Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), through the GBI’s online tip system or through the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

Once the investigation is completed, the GBI says the case file will be provided to the Cordele Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review and prosecution.