Two teens were arrested in connection with a shooting that happened in Eatonton last Thursday night. No one was injured, according to Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell.
Although it was initially reported that the shooting was a drive-by, further investigation by Cardwell and Eatonton Police Department officers revealed the shooters got out of a car to fire their handguns at some other teens they knew.
“They had been fighting over a pair of tennis shoes,” Cardwell said. “That’s all it was about – tennis shoes.”
The shooting took place a few minutes after 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, when a car drove by a residence on the 300 block of Grove Street and stopped. The occupants in the vehicle got out of the car and started shooting at two other teens, then got back in the car and drove away.
Cardwell said the two bullets hit a car parked in the driveway, but it is not known if the teens being shot at were inside of the car or standing beside it, or in the yard.
Four shell casings from .9 mm and .45 caliber pistols were found at the scene by Cardwell, but a gun or guns have not been found, he said.
The police chief was able to identify the shooters and began actively looking for them that night. At 5:30 p.m. Friday, a 16-year-old Jasper County male was arrested with assistance from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Cardwell said.
The other accused shooter, a 15-year-old Eatonton male, turned himself into Cardwell at Eatonton Police Department later that night.
The suspects' names were withheld because of their age. Both are being charged with two counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of a firearm by a minor, and criminal damage to property in the second degree.
Cardwell said the investigation is ongoing. He asked anyone with information regarding the shooting to call him at 706- 485-3551.