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2 dead, 6 injured in shooting at Douglas County house party

By and FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Updated  March 5, 2023 11:18pm EST
Douglasville
FOX 5 Atlanta

"They just camped out and waited on the children to leave the party"

A Douglasville mom said her daughter's Sweet 16 birthday party quickly turned into a nightmare when someone pulled out a gun, killing two partygoers and injuring six more.

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. - Two people are dead after a mass shooting outside a sweet sixteen birthday party in Douglas County Saturday night. Deputies are investigating the deadly incident.

FOX 5 spoke with the mother who threw the Sweet 16 party for her daughter's birthday. Officials said well over a hundred teenagers were in attendance.

Chrystal Walker-Cherry said right before the shooting, she kicked everyone out of her home on Sitka Drive after her husband discovered someone was smoking weed.

"OK. Everybody has to go. If you need to call your parents, go upstairs and call your parents, but the party is done," Walker-Cherry told FOX 5 that's what she was telling the kids.

Then, chaos broke loose.

Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Crime Scene Unit (FOX 5 Atlanta)

"Not even two minutes after that we heard gunshots," neighbor Lashondra Martin told FOX 5. "So, I immediately ran outside, saw a little girl in the streets and just wanted to make sure it was none of my children."

That neighbor said she got a bedsheet and covered the girl's body while the other teens ran. She waited for police to arrive, then she said she called the girl's mother using her phone.

Ten-year-old Calvary Evans said she was home next door when the shooting started.

"We were sitting on the couch. My grandma was at the table, and she heard it," the little girl said. "We were scared because she yelled at us, ‘Get down, get down’."

(FOX 5 Atlanta)

Investigators said the suspects involved in the shooting killed two people and injured six others that night. The status of the injured victims is unknown at this time.

Walker-Cherry said as far as she knows, the shooter never stepped foot in her home. She believes he was waiting in a car up the street.

"He wasn’t invited to this party," she said. "They weren’t invited, so they didn’t know the address. They just camped out and waited on the children to leave the party."

Deputies have not released the identities of the victims or any possible suspects.

If you have any information about the shooting, investigators are asking you to contact the Douglas County Sheriff's Office at 770-920-4916.