LAKELAND, Tenn. — Three young men are still in the hospital after a shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Lakeland on Sunday night.
Sheriff’s deputies say bullets sprayed out after a family member working the door told four young men they couldn’t come in.
“People hear about a party and they may not have actually known these people. They just say, ‘Hey, we heard a party’s going on. We want to come to it,'” said Earle Farrell, spokesman with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
But the focus on the shooting has quickly turned from the young people who were shot to the person who hosted it.
WREG spoke off-camera Wednesday with the homeowner who threw the party for her God-daughter.
She said they didn’t know the men who started shooting and she’d never put her family at risk, including her young child who was also there. She says crime can happen anywhere.
But the negative feedback has gotten so bad, she filed an intimidation report with police.
It says people have been sharing her social media account online and saying to put pressure on her to move.
Neighbor Christopher McCulley is one of the people listed in it.
“I found it kind of odd. I never threatened anybody. It’s upsetting to me,” he said.
McCulley said all he did was post whoever rented the clubhouse has questions to answer, since they all have children they’re worrying about.
You have to be a homeowner in the area to rent the space at the Club at Oakwood.
So neighbors were upset to hear that a party thrown with guests from Cordova and Germantown ended in a crime scene.
“As a community, we’re all family, and we all watch out for each other. That’s what it comes down to,” McCulley said.
“All it takes is one stray bullet to hit a kid and kill them,” he said.
The report also references a Facebook post made by Mayor Wyatt Bunker saying non-Lakeland residents attended the party and gang members were the ones who shot it up.
The mayor said those details came from when he was briefed by officials on scene, but deputies haven’t been able to confirm.
“I’ve heard a lot of anger directed at the individual who rented the clubhouse. That’s going to have to be worked out between them and that individual,” Bunker said.
The homeowner said she’ll make a public statement when she’s ready.
There are still a lot of contradicting details from authorities, witnesses and neighbors that will hopefully get worked out soon.
For now, deputies say they’re interviewing persons of interest.