One of the tragedies of gang violence is that it so often touches people who have no gang affiliation at all.
That was the case in Butts County, south of metro Atlanta, where a basketball coach was shot in the face as he tried to break up a fight between two feuding gangs Sunday afternoon, county officials said.
The coach, who is expected to recover, knew some of the people involved in the gunfight, according to Sheriff Gary Long. Several of them had once played for the unnamed coach in the Butts County recreational league, Long said.
Long said the shooting was the result of “ongoing violence” between one criminal street gang from the city of Flovilla and another from Crosstown, a neighborhood in Jackson.
“We have identified the leaders of these gangs, all the way down to the newest criminal that has joined,” Long said in a Facebook post directed at the alleged gang members. “Each and every one of your pictures are posted in our office and YOU are public enemy number one. I pledge to each and every one of you, we will not let up until your criminal street gangs are destroyed and dismantled.”
Under new anti-gang legislation introduced by Gov. Brian Kemp, those arrested could face stiffer prosecution and be added to a statewide database of gang members, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Pieces of Kemp’s bill focus specifically on minors, as gang members are often recruited as children.
Five of the people arrested after the shooting Sunday are minors, highlighting the issues raised by Kemp’s bill. The legislation was adjusted after an outcry against harsh prosecutorial guidance that would treat young gang members as adults, but it also provides for rehabilitation programs aimed at preventing the recruitment of children into gangs.
Investigators believe Sunday’s shooting was connected to another fight the day before involving the two groups. The group from Flovilla, known as the Young Flovilla Loyalty Gang, confronted the “2-solid” group from Crosstown and a gun was fired, according to authorities. Police in Jackson investigated and made an arrest.
On Sunday, the groups clashed again at a gym on Franklin Street, where the Butts County Parks and Recreation Adult Basketball League was playing.
“This league is made up of adults from businesses, community members and there is a church who has a team that plays in this league as well,” Long said. “Some of the perpetrators from Saturday’s altercation (were) at the gym participating in the league and watching the other games.”
According to the sheriff, two people associated with the Crosstown group left the gym and came back with guns. They then became locked in an armed standoff with two people from the rival group.
“A coach of the rec department, who has spent 20 years of his life mentoring and coaching our youth, (was) familiar with the four individuals due to coaching them in the past,” Long said.
He stepped between them, and a gun was fired twice, the sheriff said. One round hit the coach in the face, and the other struck an armed man in the stomach, he said.
In addition to the five minors who were arrested, warrants were taken out against several adults. Long pledged to charge “each and every one that was involved in this senseless crime.”
The sheriff’s office is working with the Jackson Police Department to investigate the weekend shootings and other recent acts of violence.
