Cops seek answers after juvenile, others injured in local shootings

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Three people, including a juvenile, ended up in hospitals after a series of apparently unrelated shootings that began Friday night and continued through the weekend.

The shootings are part of a continuing outbreak of violent crime that’s claimed more than 90 lives across the CSRA in a little over a year.

The minor was injured in a shooting around 5 p.m. Saturday in the 400 block of Oak Street in Augusta.

Deputies got a report of gunfire and one person down. When they arrived, they found a male juvenile victim with at least one gunshot wound. The victim was taken to a local hospital for injuries that weren’t life-threatening, according to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

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Several hours later, a 22-year-old man was injured in a shooting at a graduation party in Washington County.

Around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, deputies responded to a call about gunshots in the 2200 block of Jackson Church Road a few miles southeast of Sandersville. Once there, they found a victim who had been shot. The victim was first taken to Washington County Regional Medical Center, then transferred to an Augusta-area hospital.

On Sunday afternoon, gunfire broke out at an Augusta food store, but no one was hurt.

At 5:17 p.m., deputies say they responded to the EZ Grocery store at 1675 Olive Road to investigate a report of gunshots. Upon arrival, deputies learned three males in an SUV opened fire on three other males standing in front of the store. No one was struck by the gunfire.

There was also a shooting on the other side of the Savannah River.

According to deputies with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, that shooting happened just before 7 p.m. Friday at Belvedere Clearwater Road and Pineview Drive. The victim was shot in the leg and taken to a local hospital to be treated for their injuries.

Earlier Friday, a victim died several days after a Grovetown shooting.

Police said Clarence Jordan, 67, had been shot Tuesday in the 2000 block of Grove Landing Way. His stepdaughter Tasha Lawrence, 44, turned herself in and admitted shooting him, according to police. After Jordan died around midday Friday, Lawrence was charged with murder.

The CSRA’s more than yearlong surge in violent crimes began around April 2022 and has continued.

Authorities have blamed much of the violence of gangs, and many of the victims and suspects have been young men.

While the surge has affected communities large and small on both the Georgia and South Carolina sides of the CSRA, Augusta has been hit especially hard, as the region’s largest city.