MACON, Ga. — The Bibb County Sheriff's Office is continuing to investigate an early Saturday morning shooting that left two people dead and two others injured in downtown Macon.
Deputies say they got a call of shots fired on Cherry Street at 12:41 a.m.
"There was an altercation up the street on Cherry Street that moved down towards MLK [Boulevard] and then gunfire erupted," said Bibb County Sheriff David Davis.
Davis says that fight began in the vicinity of the Thirsty Turtle. He says the chaos moved down the street toward the corner of Cherry and MLK Boulevard outside of A Brooke Haven Lounge.
"We had a fight inside. We pushed them outside and apparently someone was waiting on the corner of Cherry Street with a gun already," said Matt Obelgoner, the general manager of The Thirsty Turtle. "As the fight from the club came outside, it kind of intertwined with what was going on outside."
Darrin Ford, owner of A Brooke Haven Lounge, says he saw people rushing from the Thirsty Turtle. That's when he says he asked his patrons to step inside the lounge to stay safe.
"As I locked my door behind me, a minute or so later is when we heard the gunfire. Everyone that was in my establishment because we still had customers in -- we kind of just got down on the floor," Ford said. "When it stopped, we obviously walked towards the windows and the doors... and that's when I noticed several individuals out here on the sidewalk that had been shot."
The sheriff's office is still investigating how many shots were fired. Davis says it was at least more than a dozen.
"Several. Several. It's too many to count," Ford said about the amount of shots he heard. Those shots hit at least four people -- killing two.
"One is dead at the Brookhaven Lounge in the stairs," said Bibb Coroner Leon Jones.
The man Jones is referring to is 20-year-old Donovan Cason, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jones says the second victim, 22-year-old Kabryan Johnson, died in the emergency room from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.
The sheriff's office says a 20-year-old man and a woman are recovering in the hospital and are listed in stable condition.
"We're still trying to figure out what was the causation of this. Were these individuals targeted? Were they involved in any type of altercation? It's all kind of unfolding right now," Davis said.
With this marking the second major shooting on this block of downtown in less than a year, it has some people questioning -- Is downtown safe?
"Yes, downtown is safe," Jones said. "The streets are still safe."
But Ford disagreed Saturday morning and interrupted an interview with Coroner Leon Jones to state his opinion.
"I got dead people lying in front of my business. That didn't come from my business. Don't tell me about it being safe. Fix this s---. Okay? Put that on camera," Ford said.
Ford reached out to 13WMAZ Saturday evening to speak on the same topic.
"I think there needs to be something done or said when you say, 'Hey, the streets of downtown are safe.' Yes, they are in fact safe for the most part, but it's hard to get people to believe that when you look across the street, and there's two deceased individuals lying in front of my business," Ford said.
He hopes that the mayor, commission, and sheriff's office take action to hold some downtown establishments to a higher standard to improve safety.
The sheriff's office says the shooting is still under investigation. If you have any information, you can call the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at (478) 751-7500, or Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.
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