A suspect has been arrested in connection to a shooting that left 11 people injured last weekend at Public Square in the heart of Savannah’s Downtown Historic District, police said Wednesday.
Savannah police said in a statement that William Anthony Mitchell, 20, was charged with four counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. The paper said investigators were still searching for “several persons of interest.”
Fight between women leads to mass shooting in Georgia that leaves 11 people injured
No one was killed in the shooting late Saturday, but police said 10 people were struck by gunfire and one person was injured by a broken car window. Savannah Police Chief Lenny Gunther said multiple gunmen opened fire after an argument between two women at Ellis Square, a nightlife district popular with tourists and surrounded by restaurants and bars. .
Police say they have arrested a suspect in connection to a shooting that left 11 people injured in a downtown square in Savannah, Georgia, last weekend.
Police said Wednesday that all of the victims were treated at local hospitals and have since been released.
At the time of his arrest in connection with the Ellis Square shooting, Mitchell was already charged with felony possession of crack cocaine for sale in an unrelated case. A judge granted bail on April 18 and Mitchell was released from jail, according to Chatham County state court records.
Mitchell’s attorney, Greg Crawford, declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday.
“We don’t know much about the facts yet,” Crawford said.
The violence at Ellis Square was one of five shootings in Savannah over the weekend. According to police, two people were killed and a total of 14 people were injured.
It was also the worst mass shooting in Georgia’s oldest city since June 2021, when someone in a passing car opened fire on a crowd outside an apartment complex in Savannah. Ta. One person was killed and seven people were injured.
Mayor Van Johnson blamed the proliferation of guns and Georgia’s permissive laws that allow people to possess firearms without a permit.
“Only in America, and certainly only in the state of Georgia, do we say guns have nothing to do with gun violence,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday.
Johnson, a Democrat and former police officer, supports city ordinances that would force gun owners to act responsibly without infringing on their Second Amendment rights. The Savannah City Council passed a bill in April that would make it illegal to keep a gun in an unlocked car.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, sent a letter to Savannah officials earlier this month saying the ordinance violates state law that bars local governments from regulating how guns are owned or carried.
The mayor insists local gun laws remain in effect. A private citizen lawsuit is pending in Chatham County Superior Court.
