Law enforcement officials in the US state of Georgia are working to determine the motives for a shooting that occurred at a chaotic party spanning a four-block radius in a south Georgia town early Sunday morning, killing two people and wounding nearly three dozen others.
Dooley County Sheriff Craig Peavey identified the two people killed as Jaquivion Jackson, 21, of Cordele, and McCaleb Jackson, 23, of Hawkinsville, Georgia.
Chris Hosie, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said Sunday evening that dozens of those injured were suffering from gunshot wounds, but he could not provide a specific number. “We are still trying to work on that,” Hosie said during a press conference. The authorities have not arrested any suspects yet, and the motives for the shooting are not yet clear.
Peavy said that the ages of the injured ranged between 14 and 51 years, and they were transferred to several local hospitals. He said that some of them were in critical condition on Sunday evening and others were in stable condition.
More than 1,000 people gathered at the site, and more than 50 shots were fired in at least two locations approximately one block apart in Vienna, Beavi told WMAZ-TV. Vienna is a small village community about 210 kilometers south of Atlanta.
Sheriff's deputies were near the scene when the shooting began, and after they arrived more gunfire erupted about a block away, Peevey said.
Dooley County Coroner Brett Walls said the two men were pronounced dead at the scene as a result of fatal gunshot wounds. He said that many other people were also shot, describing the scene as "horrific."
Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative member of the US Supreme Court, expressed concern about the highest judiciary in the United States because of what he described as an extreme level of public discourse and pressure surrounding its rulings.
In recent years, the Supreme Court issued decisions that shook American society to its core, including abolishing the federal right to abortion that had existed for decades and granting President Donald Trump, who was charged with criminal charges four times during his first term, broad immunity from prosecution for official actions he took while in power.
This court is traditionally seen as above American political disputes and noise, but recent opinion polls show an increasing decline in its popularity and credibility among the American public.
Pressure on the court also intensified, especially from Trump himself, who launched an unprecedented campaign during which he frankly expressed his opinion on how rulings should be issued in several cases, from customs duties to birthright citizenship. When the judges he appointed issued rulings that were not in his favor, Trump attacked them by name and accused them of disloyalty.
In a rare interview to promote a recent book, Alito, 76, told "Fox News Sunday" that he and the eight other justices on the conservative-dominated court try to ignore statements by public figures.
“There have been concerted efforts to intimidate the court and its judges in an attempt to influence our rulings in cases,” Alito said, adding, “I am concerned about the future of the court.”
In addition to disappointment with a series of rulings that gave Trump a wide margin of freedom in several cases, many Americans are angry about what was raised about judges in the Supreme Court, including Clarence Thomas, who over the years accepted gifts and luxury trips from wealthy people, which raised questions about ethical standards.
An opinion poll conducted by Gallup and published last week showed that popular support for the court fell to its lowest level since Gallup began conducting polls about it in 1972. Gallup reported that only 34% of American adults support the court’s performance, a percentage that has not actually changed from the lowest record level recorded last July, which reached 33%.
Alito also touched again on the leak of the court ruling abolishing the right to abortion in May 2022, stressing again that he has an idea of who is behind that leak. "I do have an opinion, but the evidence currently available is not strong enough for me to say or for the court to decide that this is the person responsible," Alito said.
