SAVANNAH, Ga. — A suspect has been arrested in connection with an outbreak of gunfire that injured 11 people last weekend at a public square in the heart of historic downtown Savannah, police announced Wednesday.
William Anthony Mitchell, 20, was charged with four counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm while committing a felony, Savannah police said in a statement. It said investigators were still looking for “multiple persons of interest.”
No one was killed in the shooting late Saturday, although police said 10 people were struck by gunfire and another was injured by glass from a shattered car window. Savannah Police Chief Lenny Gunther said an argument between two women led to multiple gunmen opening fire in Ellis Square, located amid restaurants and bars in an entertainment district popular with tourists.
All victims were treated at a local hospital and then released, police said Wednesday.
Mitchell was already charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in a pending, unrelated case when he was arrested in connection with the Ellis Square shootings. Chatham County State Court records show he was released from jail after a judge granted him bond on April 18.
Mitchell’s attorney, Greg Crawford, declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday.
“I 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 fourteen were injured.
It was also the worst mass shooting in Georgia’s oldest city since June 2021, when someone in a passing car shot into a crowd of people outside a Savannah apartment complex. One person was killed and seven were injured.
Mayor Van Johnson has blamed a proliferation of guns and permissive Georgia laws that allow people to carry firearms without a permit.
“Only in America, and certainly only in Georgia, do we emphasize that guns have nothing to do with gun violence,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.
Johnson, a Democrat and former police officer, has supported city ordinances that he says force gun owners to act responsibly without infringing on their Second Amendment rights. The Savannah City Council passed a measure in April that makes it illegal to leave guns in unlocked cars.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, wrote to Savannah officials earlier this month that the ordinance violates a state law that prohibits local governments from regulating gun ownership or the manner in which firearms are transported.
The mayor has insisted that the local gun law remains in force. A lawsuit has been filed by a private citizen in Chatham County Superior Court.
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This story has been updated to correct that police announced the arrest on Wednesday, not Tuesday.