FOUR OAKS – Four Oaks Police Chief Steven Anderson said reports of shots being fired into a crowd of spectators at a Civitan baseball game are unfounded. Friday night, police responded to the ball field adjacent to Four Oaks Elementary School for reports of gunshots.
Social media comments included reports “Bullets landed just feet away from kids…” and “Family, kids, and players were all put in serious danger, and yet the effort to protect, inform, or even properly react was almost nonexistent.”
Chief Anderson said police officers responded to the ball field but never observed any gunfire or saw evidence of any shell casings. No one saw anyone shooting a gun but numerous people did hear gunshots in the distance.
Police determined someone had likely been shooting outside the city limits and the sounds “echoed through the woods” and were heard by people attending the ball game.
Officers canvassed the area but could not locate anyone who was firing a gun. A neighbor told police they heard sounds of target practicing earlier in the day, but they were not in the immediate vicinity.
The investigation is still ongoing in an attempt to locate the person or persons who fired the shots, but Chief Anderson reiterated there is no evidence any shots were fired from someone at the game, or towards those attending the game.
“From what we have seen at this point it has been unfounded,” Chief Anderson told The Johnston County Report. “There were shots fire obviously in the county but not in the immediate area of the ball park. There was no evidence rounds were fired into the ballpark.”
As a precaution, and to help calm the fears of parents and children, police plan to conduct extra patrols at tonight’s baseball game.
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This story has been updated to correct the date from Saturday to Friday
Wow. 😐 This whole article makes my skin crawl, as someone that was actually present on FRIDAY NIGHT when this whole this occured.
Are the parents and players who were there *FRIDAY* night being called liars? (It was Friday night, not Saturday)
This wasn’t a shooting out in the county that resulted in just noise. No Sir- Mr Chief of Police. There were bullets flying through the Civitan ball field, with a whole baseball game going on on Field 2, a practice on Field 4 and several other players parents and coaches practicing on the football field and batting cages- all of which ducked and ran when bullets went whizzing through the ball park.
This was not the way to handle it. Your one Four oaks officer that responded was at Roy Dunns gas station by 8:30 grabbing an energy drink – not investigating this incident.
First of all, the incident in question occurred Friday night not Saturday night. Second, I am absolutely appalled at the stance this article is taking. Four Oaks police department and town government should be taking this incident more seriously and should have addressed the public in a statement telling what actions they’ve taken to investigate this matter. These were NOT distant gunshots, I live directly behind the Civitan fields and the elementary school. I heard these shots myself while in my yard. The wooded area in question that many witnesses said they were coming from is behind my house.
Interesting, if this had happen in Ukraine to Ukrainian children, we would be sending them guns to shoot back.
I was there and I am a long time / avid outdoorsman. Unfortunately, I have been around stray bullets flying. I can assure the police chief that bullets were flying by , overhead. No one can deny the sound of guns shots coming from woods nearby. The 100 plus people that were can’t all be wrong .
I am positive that social media posters were all creating more parts to the story that excited and possibly dramatizing the situation to get more attention on social media.., BUT, the fact is, there shots fired very near the fields / NOT outside of city limits and stray bullets were going overhead.
It really bothers me for the police chief to declare this did not occur. I never saw a policeman come and speak to any of the people that were in the crowd. …. How about going and asking the off duty Smithfield policeman that went sprinting towards the woods as soon as it happened…. Did he also just imagine this was occurring?!?!
“Unfounded”??? I have much less respect for that chief now!
100% agree – I was also there with my Family – bullets were going overhead – My ears were ringing from the whistling noise. It is irresponsible, inaccurate, and down right condescending to to tell the public that this was “unfounded”.
Hey
WALKING BOSS said it didn’t happened, that means it didn’t happen!
You’re stupid
Pretty sure he/she was being sarcastic…….
Four Oaks has a police department?
This social media rumors uproar could have been avoided if the cops had taken statements from the people who were witnesses to the entire event.