Jaquevion “Scooter” Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and Macaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville, were killed early Sunday, October 4, when gunfire erupted at a homecoming block party in Vienna, Georgia, that drew more than 1,000 attendees, according to Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy. Approximately 35 other people were injured. No suspects have been named, and authorities have not released a motive. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the investigation.
A small Georgia town’s homecoming weekend turned into one of the deadliest nights in its history, when a celebration spanning four city blocks erupted into gunfire that left two young men dead and dozens more injured.
What Happened
The shooting broke out around 1:25 a.m. Sunday near Pine Street in Vienna, where more than 1,000 people had gathered for a neighborhood block party tied to Dooly County High School’s homecoming weekend. According to Sheriff Peavy, more than 50 shots were fired at two locations roughly a block apart.
Deputies were already near the scene when the shooting began, Peavy said, and more gunfire erupted about a block away shortly after they arrived.
“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.”
Dooly County Coroner Brett Walls said the two men were pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds. He described the scene as “horrific,” telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that multiple people were struck by bullets while roughly a dozen others were injured 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 said. “And even in bigger cities, you don’t hear that kind of a number.”
Ashley Gee, 30, who traveled from nearby Turner County for the party, described a wall of gunfire to the AJC.
“Like a machine gun,” she said. “One person ran, and everybody started running.”
The Victims and the Injured
Sheriff Peavy identified the two men killed as Jaquevion Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and Macaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville. He did not say whether the two were related. Loved ones have also referred to Jaquevion by the nickname “Scooter.”
Approximately 35 other people were injured, ranging in age from 14 to 51, and were transported to several regional hospitals. Some were in critical condition Sunday evening, while others were listed as stable, according to Peavy. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said some of the injuries involved gunshot wounds, though officials had not determined an exact number as of Sunday evening.
“We’re still trying to work through that,” Hosey said at a Sunday evening news conference.
A Weekend That Started Well
The block party began Friday night, tied to a local high school football team’s homecoming victory, and reportedly drew attendees from several surrounding south Georgia counties. Peavy said that first night went smoothly, with deputies patrolling the event and the crowd showing “respect from the community.”
Saturday night told a different story.
“We’re still working through the investigation to see what went wrong. But at large parties with people from different places, not just your locals, sometimes problems come,” Peavy said. He acknowledged the sheer scale of the crowd made it difficult for his deputies to respond effectively in the moment. “Our deputies were just about on the scene when it happened. They were at the end of each, most directions of where the block party was being held. But it was so many people. And it was just hard to figure out what was going on.”
Peavy called the incident a hard lesson for his department. “There’s just hardly no way to know how to operate when something like that happens on the scene,” he said. “We thought we’d been involved with a lot of stuff. But sometimes it surprises, and it was overwhelming.”
A Region on Edge
The shooting in Vienna comes just a week after a separate incident roughly 80 kilometers north in Macon, where authorities say 12 teenagers were wounded by gunfire during a confrontation at a birthday party in a city park — a pattern that’s left the region shaken.
Vienna Mayor Eddie Daniels, whose home sits about a block from the shooting, said he saw numerous police lights but had not yet spoken with law enforcement about details of what happened. Daniels said the city had not issued a permit for the block party and wasn’t certain it was officially tied to homecoming.
Dooly County School System Superintendent Sherrod Willaford confirmed the party was not a school-sponsored event, but acknowledged its impact on the school community. “We recognize that its impact may reach many of our students, families, and staff,” he said in a statement, adding that schools would reopen Monday with additional, unspecified safety measures in place.
Investigation Ongoing
No suspects have been named, and authorities have not released a possible motive. GBI spokesperson Lydia Bullard declined to answer further questions, citing the ongoing investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Perry Regional Investigative Office at 478-987-4545.
