5 teens shot, 2 trampled at “teen bash”
By: WKRG Staff and J.B. Biunno and Michael Snowden
MOBILE, AL (WKRG) – One teenager remains in critical condition after five people were shot and two more were trampled at a teen party in Mobile on Sunday night.
The shooting occurred at The Grand Hall on Halls Mill Road around 10:45pm during a teen concert. Mobile Police are investigating the incident and have not yet made any arrests.
At a press conference Monday morning, Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste said all seven victims were teenagers between 15 and 18 years of age. Six have been released, while one remains in critical condition. Battiste added that one of the victims suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the chaotic scene at the teen hangout.
Witnesses say the violence started with a fight outside the venue. Mobile Police are still investigating a possible motive for the shots fired. “People were piling on. They were piling up everywhere. There was nowhere to go,” said witness Alfonza Jones. “Then all of a sudden while I was sitting on the stage I heard gunshots. Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop. Maybe 5 or 6 gunshots.”
Surveillance cameras were not working at the time of the event. Additionally, Mobile Police did not have any presence at the Easter night party.
At least 5 people were wounded in a shooting Sunday night at the Grand Hall on Halls Mill Road. According to police, shots were fired outside the hall around 10:40 pm during a teen concert.
“As a matter of fact there happened to be an officer right up the street and was able to detain a few people as they were trying to leave in a vehicle and they started shooting at the other part of the parking lot at the time he was here because they didn’t know he was here,” said Assistant Mobile Police Chief Clay Godwin. Two others were hurt in the stampede to get inside the building. The injured were taken to several hospitals in Mobile. Police say the injuries were believed to be non-life-threatening.
“I’m surprised this hasn’t happened in other venues because we’ve had people shot in large crowds before and everyone always says I can’t believe more people weren’t hit that’s what you have here, when you have gunfire, bullets travel as far as you can see in the direction of travel until they hit something when you have hundreds running around the parking lot it’s not surprising we had this many hit,” said Godwin. People inside described the chaos as the shooting went down.
“People were piling on. They were piling up everywhere. There was nowhere to go. Then all of a sudden while I was sitting on the stage I heard gunshots. Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop. Maybe 5 or 6 gunshots. After it was over I saw people rushing and running. Then I got up and they started shooting again. I jumped up over the bar and people were jumping over on top of me burying me. People were just piling up,” said witness Alfonza Jones. Witnesses say the violence started with a fight outside the venue.
“When they did the shooting outside it rushed the crowd inside. One of the guys rushed inside with the crowd and started shooting on the inside. Then they had a lot of shooting going on mainly on the outside around the building rushing the kids in and stuff,” said witness Lugene Powell.
Police say several people were taken into custody for questioning but so far News 5 is not aware of any arrests.
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