‘I could have died that night’: Downtown shooting spawns chaos

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – When gunfire broke out in downtown Augusta early Saturday, it was a scene of “chaos,” witnesses said.

Around 1:15 a.m., there was a gunfight on the sidewalk at 10th and Broad streets, and one of the gunmen fired into a crowd on the sidewalk, authorities said. The gunman was shot by deputies and two other people were wounded.

None of the injuries were life-threatening.

But it was a scary experience for people in nearby businesses.

A witness described the chaos that erupted when the gunfire started.

He was at a nearby bar and said everyone started running when they heard what sounded like automatic gunfire.

“Once the club starts rushing to one side, you leave,” Phil Ramey said. “It’s almost like a big wave you feel it happen real quick.”

He was at Garden City Social when it happened.

“I went over to Garden City, in Garden City, vibing, enjoying the night. And next thing you know, you hear bullet shots coming through, and everyone sprints from the back to the front. Drinks are spilled. It’s a little bit chaotic,” he said.

“I little bit of screaming,” he said. “Everybody’s rushing to the front. It’s a small doorway, so I don’t think anybody got trampled, but people were pushing and shoving and elbows are being thrown – you know, kind of chaos. Chaos.”

He said when they got outside, the scene was more calm, and much of the attention seemed to be focused across the street in front of Solè restaurant.

Deputies were keeping people from walking in front of the business, he said.

“The cops were moving pretty quickly, trying to get everybody out,” he said. “But people like to linger. They like to kind of see what’s going on, so that’s kind of the vibe I got.”

He returned to the area on Saturday morning and was surprised to see the scene was still active with law enforcement.

“I showed up today and there’s cops out here still and yellow tape, so it must have went down pretty seriously,” he said Saturday morning.

A pair of friends told News 12 they were in Solè when it happened.

One said it was nothing but chaos. They said they never heard shots, just screaming.

People hid under tables and shoved one another trying to get out.

When they finally got outside, they saw several men in black ski masks, they said.

They didn’t know if they were the shooter or affiliated with the shooter, but their only thought was to run.

“It was just everyone rushing, like the manager was getting us out of there. And, yeah, there was this man. He was just telling us we need to get out. And, like, literally pushing us out just to get to safety,” Joshua Harris said. “I just know there was, like, a lot of screaming and such, police swarming everywhere, like I heard it out in the distance. It was just cars everywhere.”

Amy Sparent described seeing someone limping and holding an apparently injured area of his body as he walked.

“That’s when we just kind of like ran around the side,” she said. “We kind of did a circle of the building because we really didn’t know what to do.”

Like others, Harris and Sparent described hearing what sounded like hundreds of shots.

On the sidewalk in front of Solè on Saturday morning, there were shoes that had come off people’s feet as well as jewelry that had been dropped in the rush to get away.

“Nobody knows where it came from,” witness Alonzo Butler said.

He said he saw people getting carried away after being shot.

“And I’m pretty sure they had nothing to do with it,” he said.

He had mixed emotions.

“What I felt was anger, and I was disappointed,” he said.

Like others, he described many gunshots.

“The rate of fire was so rapid,” he said.

Hours after the shooting, Butler said he was happy to be alive.

“I could have died that night,” he said.

Although many people came to the location Saturday morning to see what was going on, some were reluctant to talk with News 12 about what they knew. Some were hugging each other.

However, a young woman said her two brothers were shot. She said 18-year-old Amazing Brigham and 23-year-old Seven Whitfield were taken to a hospital. Whitfield has been released from the hospital and is not a suspect. Brigham, she says, has not been released.

Brigham’s mother told News 12 she hadn’t been able to see her son but authorities told her he was stable.

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It wasn’t a deadly incident, since Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen says he wasn’t involved.

But it easily could have been, considering the number of rounds fired – and it happened just three days after Richmond County public safety agencies gathered for a symposium on preparing for active-shooter incidents and other potential mass casualties.

The incident is among the latest in an outbreak of deadly violence that’s claimed more than 150 lives across the CSRA in a little over two years.

The outbreak has affected communities large and small on both sides of the Savannah River, but as the largest city in the region, Augusta has been hit especially hard.

Authorities have blamed much of the problem on gangs.

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