A shooting early on Sunday at a Georgia block party left two people ⁠dead and almost three dozen injured, some critically, local and state officials said.

Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy told a news conference that two men, aged 21 and 23, were shot dead in Vienna, Georgia, about 215 ⁠km south of Atlanta. Thirty-five people were injured, mostly by gunshot wounds, officials told reporters.

They said hundreds of people had attended the event, which came at the end of Dooly County High School's homecoming week.

Authorities do not believe there is a remaining threat to the public, but have not publicly named any suspects or persons of interest, and have not identified a motive for the shooting.

"We don't want to presume as to what caused it," said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Those wounded range in age from 14 to 51, officials said.

Dooly County Coroner Brett Walls said two men ere pronounced dead at the scene with fatal gunshot wounds. He said multiple other people were also shot, calling the scene “horrific.”

Walls told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that multiple people were struck by bullets and roughly a dozen others were hurt while trying to flee.

“This doesn’t – it's not supposed to – happen in a small town like that. It's something you hear on the news in bigger cities,” Walls told the newspaper, adding hospitals were flooded with the injured. “And even in bigger cities, you don’t hear that kind of a number.”

The shooting was not at a school-sponsored event, said Sherrod Willaford, superintendent of the Dooly County School System.

“We recognise that its impact may reach many of our students, families, and staff,” he said in a statement.

Schools will open on Monday, he said, but additional safety measures have been put in place. He did not specify what they are. (Agencies)



Edited by Cecil Wong