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Shooting at semi-professional football game
Police are searching for the gunman in the shooting over the weekend at a semi-professional football game in Sugar Hill.
SUGAR HILL, Ga. - Gwinnett County police are asking for witnesses to come forward as they work to identify multiple shooters who opened fire on a crowd after a brawl broke out during a football game in Sugar Hill on Saturday night.
The Columbus Storm was playing the Georgia Cardinals at Gary Pirkle Park in Sugar Hill when a fight broke out between players on opposing teams. Coaches and staff members broke it up and the referee suspended the game in the 4th quarter.
Columbus Storm Team owner Charles Drinkard recorded the shooting that sent players and spectators scrambling. Drinkard said, "When we heard the gunshots we ran to our sidelines, and we just headed over there until police got there."
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A fight between football teams at the Gwinnett County park ended with shots fired and one man injured, police said. (Gwinnett County Police Department)
FOX 5 spoke to the owners of both teams. They each blame the other’s players for the violence that left one man injured. Moments after the game ended, shots rang out from the parking lot. According to witness reports and evidence collected on scene, at least two shooters, possibly more, opened fire on the people on the football field.
Georgia Cardinals co-owner Leonard Holmes described what happened saying, “Me and the other coach we are in the middle of the field trying to make sure everybody is good and sure enough we heard some gunshots. You could hear the bullets hitting the bleachers on the home side and everybody just started running for their lives. I fell on top of my wife covering her up, and it was just constantly going. It stopped and then it started up again and then it stopped.”
Gwinnett County police believe there were at least a hundred people present at the time of the shooting. Most of them left the park before officers arrived. One man was shot in the leg. A family member transported him to the hospital.
Sugar Hill City Councilman Marc Cohen told FOX 5 semi-pro football leagues have been using the fields at Gary Pirkle Park for years, calling it an isolated incident. He said city leaders have taken swift action stating in part:
"In this particular case we have told the leagues that we will no longer allow them to utilize the parks. The city council will be revisiting all of our rental policies and all the rules and regulations around these types of rentals."
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