Two dead, 35 wounded in shooting at Georgia block party

Police responded to a shooting at a block party in Vienna, Ga., early Sunday.WMAZShareAdd NBC News to GoogleOct. 4, 2026, 2:55 PM EDT / Updated Oct. 5, 2026, 4:26 AM EDTBy Aria Bendix and Dennis RomeroOfficials were still trying to piece together how a block party left two people dead and 35 others wounded, early Sunday in south-central Georgia.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a news release that shots were fired at about 1:25 a.m. in Vienna, a rural community about two hours south of Atlanta.

Two men were pronounced dead at the scene.

Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy identified them as JaQuevion Jackson, 21, of Cordele, Georgia; and Macaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville, Georgia.

The Dooly County coroner, Brett Watts, said they each had a single gunshot wound, though an autopsy by the medical examiner’s office, scheduled for Friday, could provide a fuller picture. He said the men’s families have been notified.

The violence took place at a neighborhood celebration that spanned four blocks, Peavy said at a Sunday night news conference.

The 35 wounded ranged in age from 14 to 51, and were taken to several regional hospitals, he said, adding that their conditions ranged from stable to critical.

“A majority were gunshot victims,” he said.

Deputies were patrolling the party at the time, the sheriff added.

“It was so many people, and it was just hard to figure out what was going on,” Peavy said.

The investigation into the shooting was “active and ongoing,” Lydia Bullard, the bureau’s public affairs specialist, said in a statement to NBC News.

The incident took place over homecoming weekend for Dooly County High School.

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

“We recognize that its impact may reach many of our students, families, and staff,” he said in a statement. Schools will open Monday, he said, but additional safety measures have been put in place. He did not specify what they were.

Peavy said the festivities began Friday night, and that it had “gone well” with “respect from the community” that evening as deputies patrolled the event. But the party Saturday night was a “different story,” he said.

“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 added.

ShareAdd NBC News to GoogleAria BendixAria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.

Dennis RomeroDennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.