3 new arrests in shootings that injured 11 in downtown Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Three additional suspects in a shootout that injured 11 people in a public square in the heart of Savannah’s downtown historic district have been arrested, police announced Friday.

That brings the total number of people charged in the May 18 shootings to four. No one was killed, though police said 10 people were struck by gunfire and another got hurt by glass from a shattered car window. Police said all the victims were treated at a hospital and then released.

Savannah Police Chief Lenny Gunther has said a late-night argument between two women led to multiple shooters opening fire in Ellis Square, located amid restaurants and bars in a nightlife district popular with tourists.

Samira Kenny, 29, Jordan Caleb Jones, 20, and Cazare Cooper, 19, were jailed Thursday in connection with the Ellis Square shootings, police said in a statement. All were charged with aggravated assault — five counts for Kenny and four apiece for Jones and Cooper. All three were also charged with possessing a weapon while committing a crime.

Cooper also faces a gun possession charge in a pending, unrelated felony case in which he’s also charged with theft and drug possession, according to Chatham County Superior Court records. They show Cooper was released from jail on a $5,000 bond in January 2023.

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Cooper’s attorney in that case, Chase Carnes, did not immediately return phone and email messages Friday.

There were no attorneys for Kenny or Jones listed in online jail and court records. The Associated Press could not find phone numbers to correspond with addresses listed for them in court documents.

Another suspect, 20-year-old William Anthony Mitchell, was arrested last week and charged with four counts of aggravated assault as well as possessing a firearm while committing a crime.

Mitchell was already facing felony charges of possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in a pending, unrelated case. Chatham County State Court records show he was released from jail after a judge granted him bond April 18.

Mitchell’s attorney, Greg Crawford, declined to comment when reached by phone Friday.

The violence in Ellis Square marked the worst mass shooting in Georgia’s oldest city since June 2021, when someone inside a passing car fired into a crowd of people outside a Savannah apartment complex. One person was killed and seven were wounded.