SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — Washington County's chairman says they want to shut down a private park that was the scene of a double homicide, and county commissioners met Thursday to discuss last week's shooting at Larry Mitchell Park.
We talked with some park neighbors and a commissioner tells us their plan.
"Two people lost their lives. That's two too many right there,” Kenneth Spikes says.
Spikes is just one of a dozen people who came to speak to Washington County commissioners. He says his backyard faces Larry Mitchell Park, and over 1,000 people were at the May 29th party when shots rang out.
"People were scared, they were running. Three people run up to the house and they had fell-- they were bloody, legs and everything. This lady was saying could she come on the porch, so we let them on the porch and everything,” he explains.
Spikes says he grew up in places where shootings were common, and he moved to Washington County to escape that.
“I didn't want that for my grandboys. Right now, they're terrified of going out and playing in the yard,” Spikes says.
Several other people say the music from these parties was too loud and the number of people jammed into the park was dangerous.
"The deputies and the ambulance had a hard time getting to it because everybody was coming out at the same time, taking up both lanes,” Washington County Sheriff’s officer Rudy Grant said.
"Before anyone else get killed, it's time to just stop it,” said another person.
County Commission Chairman Horace Daniel agrees, stating that, "This board wants to help everybody, and I think the best thing in my mind is to close the thing down.”
After the public got a chance to say their piece, Councilman Doug Watkins, who represents that area of District 1, says that there's a solution coming soon.
"At this time, the county attorney is filing a lawsuit against the property owners for a short-term and long-term ordinance. The short-term shouldn't take probably 30 days, but the long-term will take longer to try to do something about it,” Watkins explains.
The county lawyer, Michael Howard, explains that the county will ask a judge to declare the privately-owned park a public nuisance. If it happens, they say the park would be closed off and barricaded.
Neighbors say another party is scheduled at the park in July, but the county lawyer says he'll try to file the lawsuit before that happens.
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