DOOLY COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) — Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy said he believes more than 1,000 people attended a block party on Pine Street that ended with two dead and 35 injured in a mass shooting.

Peavy said a block party on Pine Street Friday night went off without any problems. Because he wanted people to have a good time, he didn’t mind another block party taking place Saturday night.

He believes the difference was that people from out of town attended the Saturday party, and it should not have been advertised that way by organizers.

Rain affected arrival pattern, sheriff says

Peavy said that due to rain, instead of people gradually arriving throughout the night, they all showed up at once.

Peavy said he was not aware of any permits for the party. He said permits are handled by the city, not the sheriff’s office. The city currently does not have its own police department, but Peavy believes the situation would have played out the same way even if officers had been there.

“You know, this isn’t a finger pointing time. This had nothing to do with the city not having a police department at this time. I believe this would have happened anyway. The amount of people was the problem. City officers working, county officers, manpower wasn’t a problem Saturday night because I had all my dedicated men and women in law enforcement out working. I could have had 50 working, and I don’t think it would have done any good,” the sheriff said.

City council member addresses police department

A city council member said they would like to work on establishing a police department again for the city, which has not had one since February.

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