VIENNA, Ga. (WALB) — Dooly County Sheriff’s Office deputies were working a Homecoming block party when a deadly mass shooting happened in Vienna Sunday, Oct. 4, according to Vienna Councilwoman Tabitha Carter.

Carter said the city does not have its own police department. For months, she said, the council has heard concerns from the sheriff’s office about being overwhelmed covering both the city and county.

Training exercise held before shooting

A couple of months before Sunday’s shooting, Dooly County first responders traveled to neighboring Crisp County to train for this type of situation. The exercise brought together multiple agencies to practice responding to an active shooter/mass casualty event.

Councilwoman addresses response

Carter said she believes the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office did what it could and responded in a timely manner. She also said she believes Vienna having its own police department would have helped in this situation.

“We’ve been trying to get a police department, a police chief in place for ever since February 9th to no avail,” Carter said. “So I feel like we have the lack of policing in the city. If we’d have our police in place, we could have got ahead of this party and maybe kind of put some stuff in place. We had no time. We had no time. And the sheriff department is short-staffed. And they’ve stressed this many, many times.”

Next steps

Carter said she hopes to meet with the mayor and fellow council members this week to start working on a solution.

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