Police were called Thursday night when a panicked group of Cub Scouts and accompanying staff and volunteers heard gunshots nearby while they were camping at a Henry County church.
Shelia Lumpkin, a volunteer with the Tussahaw Cub Scouts Day Camp, called Henry County police after she heard multiple gunshots near Cornerstone Bible Church on Nail Drive, according to the incident report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
She said they had moved the 60-plus children inside the church’s gym and she thought the gunfire was coming from a home in the 100 block of Nail Drive, the report said.
The report confirmed no one was injured, but the scouts were “very frightened.”
About half of the campers reportedly went home because of the incident, and the remaining scouts camped inside the gym.
Joan Marie Scott, 53, of McDonough, was allegedly the one shooting behind her property, the report said. She told police she recently received her pistol license and was practice shooting, the report said. The officer spotted 9mm and shotgun shell casings on the ground at her property.
The officer measured and said the shell casings were allegedly within 200 yards of another residence, which is in violation of a Henry County ordinance for discharging a firearm, and she was written two citations.
“We are glad all of our youth members, staff and volunteers are safe, and we appreciate the Henry County Police Department for their assistance with this matter,” Kelvin Williams, Scout Executive/CEO, Flint River Council, Boy Scouts of America, said in a statement.
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