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Graduation parties are usually a time to celebrate, not the time to pull a gun on a person or to shoot other party-goers. Yet both of those things happened in connection with two graduation parties in Fayette County over the weekend.
One of the parties was held at a home on Annelise Park Drive off Flat Creek Trail near Sandy Creek Road. Two teens from other counties were shot in the leg, with as many as four shooters at the scene.
Sheriff Barry Babb said the May 21 graduation party was being hosted for a person from Atlanta, with deputies responding to the location after midnight.
What was supposed to have been a gathering of a small group of people resulted in 150-200 people in the area, Babb noted, adding that two groups got into a dispute while outside the home and in the area of the cul-de-sac after the party had essentially ended.
At one point, shots were fired and two males, one age 19 from Atlanta and the other an 18-year-old from College Park, were struck in the leg, said Babb.
One of the teens was on the scene when deputies arrived, while the other had already been transported to Piedmont Fayette Hospital by a private party.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing, though Babb said information to date suggests there may have been four shooters at the scene.
In the other graduation party incident, deputies on May 20 were called to the intersection of North Drive and Trail Point Circle off Ga. Highway 279 in reference to an assault with a firearm being reported by an Uber driver.
Babb said the Uber driver told deputies he was transporting two people, a male and a female, to a Briarlake Court residence, which was a short distance to the west.
The driver said he told his fares that he would drop them off on North Drive, which was approximately one block from the residence, due to the volume of traffic in the area, Babb said.
It was at that point that one of the passengers produced a handgun, pointed it at the driver and told him they would take his vehicle, said Babb.
Babb said the two exited the vehicle instead, with the Uber driver subsequently calling for deputies.
Deputies went to the residence, finding that the party had been advertised on social media, with 100-200 people at the location, Babb noted.
The responsible person at the home, Theran L. Shields, was charged with keeping a disorderly house and a social hosting violation, according to Fayette County Jail records.
[CORRECTED HEADLINE — only one person was arrested.]
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