A friendly game of pickup basketball at a Walton County church ended in a shoot-out between teenagers, authorities told Channel 2 Action News, and the search is on the for those teens.
Inside a packed gym Monday night, two teens playing basketball got into an argument and decided to take it outside. Once in the church parking lot, the scuffle continued and one of the teens pulled out a gun and fired off rounds. The other teen also pulled out a gun and returned fire, according to Channel 2.
A church volunteer inside the Family Center heard the gunshots and immediately ran outside to intervene. Standing between the teens, he said, “There’s kids in here. If you’re going to shoot, you’re going to have to shoot through me,” Smith told the station. The intervention diffused the scuffle and the teens took off running.
“It was very brave thing to do,” church pastor David Smith told the station. “I told [the volunteer] it wasn’t the wisest thing to do, to step in between gunfire.”
He also told Channel 2 the teens were firing off warning shots, not pointing the guns at each other.
Monday nights are usually busy for the Monroe Church of God. The church’s Family Center open its doors for middle and high school students to get some exercise and a meal, according to the news station.
“This is the first type of incident of this nature we have had at this location,” Monroe Police Chief Keith Glass told Channel 2. “No one was hurt and that was the good thing. The staff and other kids reacted well to a dangerous situation.”
The police chief told the station that they have a pretty good idea of who the teens are, and plan to arrest them over the next few days. He said he plans to take steps to heighten security and keep an eye on who comes in to play on Monday basketball nights.
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