Fitzgerald after party prom party shooting leads to Chyell Paulk, 15 year old girl shot dead, 4 injured, 17 year old Georgia teen, Channen Brown arrested. No known motive.
A 17 year old Georgia teen has been arrested for a shooting at an after party prom in downtown Fitzgerald over the weekend that left one 15 year old girl dead and four others injured.
The shooting which occurred just after midnight, Saturday night led to 15-year-old Chyell Paulk being dying from a gunshot wound, after being taken to a hospital according to the Ben Hill County Coroner.
The teen’s body is due to be taken to the GBI on Wednesday so that an autopsy can be carried out, WALB reported.
No known motive
Along with Paulk, four others were injured, including a 19-year-old woman, who has since been released from the hospital, and two boys, ages 14 and 15 according to Fitzgerald Police Chief William Smallwood.
Another 15-year-old male was airlifted to a hospital in Macon and is in critical condition, WALB reported.
Arrested was 17 year old juvenile male, Channen Brown, who was charged with felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. A previous report identified the suspect as a 15 year old according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
Smallwood told WALB that the area is a ‘high crime area’ and he believes that the shooting was foul play. Authorities to date released no known motive as to what led up to the gun violence.
The shooting comes less than a week after another after party prom shooting in Arkansas which involved an 18 year old being fatally shot at the hands of a 19 year old former school graduate.
In 2023, nearly 43,000 people died in the US from gun-related injuries, according to The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM). On average, at least 327 people are shot in the US every day, including around 23 children and teenagers under the age of 17.
The NIHCM found that, for every person shot dead, more than two survive but they are often left with expensive and long-term mental and physical injuries. On average, over 83,000 people survive firearm injuries each year.
