Shots were reported near the popular Statesboro bar, The Blue Room, on Chandler Road in the early hours of  Feb 19. 

Details from Capt. Akins with the Statesboro Police Department about the incident:

• “The officers responded around 1 o’clock in the morning, and it would have been in the early hours of Sunday morning, to Chandler Road for reported shots fired,” Akins said. “When they arrive on scene, they are looking for an injured person, shell casings, whatever else. They find the victim in this case, who was actually in a wooded area, just right off the roadway on Chandler Road down from the Blue Room.”

• “The individual who later died at Memorial [Health Medical Center] had initially fired shots back towards The Blue Room, in the direction of The Blue Room, had actually done some damage to a vehicle that was in the parking lot and to the actual building itself.” 

Students express their worries regarding safety near and on campus:

• “It’s just kind of scary sometimes because our dorms are next to Blue [Room] and it could happen close to our dorms,” Parker Locklear, a freshman, said.

• “We actually live right by Blue Room, we are right there,” Julia Bostain, a junior, said. “Especially just the time it was, college students go there. I feel like something should have been said. Just knowing that was so close to campus as well.”

Akins response to police presence in the area:

• “You will see officers constantly cycling through that area including Georgia Southern University officers because they have a jurisdiction. Between the two, you will see a carousel of officers constantly cycling through the different bar areas and different apartment complexes at that point in time.”

According to Akins, students should make sure that they are aware of their surroundings. Also, students should abide by the same rules when it comes to Statesboro versus big cities.