FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Fort Valley residents are on edge after shots went off at an apartment complex Thursday night.
Two people fired around a dozen gunshots between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Lakeview Apartments.
"All I saw is the police when I got here, they were all over here!" Brandon Johnson said.
It is not the first instance of violence at the Lakeview Apartments. The Thursday night shooting marks the fourth shooting in four years at the apartment complex.
Back in 2022, one toddler was killed and another was injured after someone fired shots into a first-floor unit. Over the past four years, three people have been killed and two people injured at the Lakeview Apartments.
Johnson said he's grown up in Fort Valley since he was three and loves how tight-knit his community is.
"Everybody down here already knows everybody, so when a new person comes out here, you really gonna be getting on in probably 'bout a week or two because everybody gon' ask you who you is," he said.
Johnson said he lives across the street from the complex.
After coming across another shooting in his community, he said he thinks the younger people need to be looked after more.
"It ain't no racial thing. Any kid growing up gonna be in a fight, gonna be in an incident, so growing up we knew how to fight," Johnson said. "These days in any part of the world people wanna shoot."
Fort Valley Police Chief DJ Flores said he thinks the relationship between officers and the community needs mending.
"We believe in history," Flores said. "You know, there was a culture where they did not want to come forward and speak to law enforcement during that time. There are individuals that live there that are truly in fear of speaking. Unfortunately, we cannot be there all day every day."
Flores said the Peach County Sheriff's Office helped find the suspect, a 19-year-old man. The suspect is in custody, though he has not been charged with a crime.
The Fort Valley Police Department is also looking for a second gunman. Flores says they are currently going through the evidence to try and find the second shooter.
"The worst thing in the world is killing," Johnson said.
While no one was injured in the shooting on Thursday, a stray bullet fragment almost struck a bedridden woman in one of the apartment buildings, Flores says.
The investigation is ongoing. If you have any information, you can call CrimeStoppers at 877-68-CRIME or the Fort Valley Police Department at 478-825-3383. Flores says that if you wish to remain anonymous, that is fine