1 dead, 2 injured in Congress Lane shooting

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – The Savannah Police Department (SPD) is investigating a shooting that claimed the life of one person and left two others injured.

Around 2:15 a.m., SPD said they responded to a shooting at W. Congress Lane and Whitaker Street that resulted in the death of one man.

Officers then found two more people, one woman with a non-life-threatening injury to her arm and a man with a hand injury.

This is the second shooting in the area in under a week. On Saturday, Aug. 24, a woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries following the early morning shooting.

Stephanie Aguirre says she avoids downtown Savannah late at night because of recent crime in the area. Friends of hers have heard gunshots in City Market, and she says she’s heard about the violence through working at a law firm in the area.

“Luckily, with the cases that we’ve had with premise liability and personal injury, more bars and nightclubs do have like more metal detectors and they’re checking for things like that,” Aguirre said. “But whenever someone’s out walking in the street, you’re not so sure you’re safe.”

Ernesto Recinos works at Flock to the Wok, just steps away from where the violence happened.

“I’ve been working here for a couple of months and we hear from time to time, like every once in a while, we’ll hear about a shooting happening,” Recinos said. “It’s actually pretty often, unfortunately, and whenever we hear about it, it’s just kind of like, ‘Oh, OK, it happened again, you know? So it’s not like an uncommon occurrence, I would say.”

He says he and his coworkers make sure to watch for their surroundings when walking downtown, but he wants to see a change in the city he loves so much.

“I’ve lived here almost my whole life,” Recinos said. “It’s a really great town. It’s very artistic. All the people here are really, really awesome. And I like working here. I enjoy working here, though pretty much the only downside, I would say, is just kind of hearing about the shootings.”

Anyone with information about the two shootings is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (912) 234-2020.