A shooting that put a woman and two men in the hospital early Tuesday morning wasn’t a random act of violence. Instead the victims knew their attackers and had a run-in earlier that night, Hinesville police say.
“It’s still under investigation, but it appears it’s not a random incident,” Hinesville Police Department Lt. Tracy Howard said. “It does appear it’s a result of an ongoing feud between a couple of the individuals that kind of escalated last night and ultimately resulted in the shooting incident.”
Howard said no charges have been filed but one arrest has been made in the shooting, which took place around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday outside a home at 959 Pineland Avenue. He did not identify the man arrested. Police are seeking a second “person of interest” as well.
HPD said the two men shot were flown by helicopter from Liberty Regional Medical Center to Memorial Medical Center in Savannah while the woman, Migdalia Borrero, 20, was taken from LRMC to Memorial by ambulance. All suffered what first appeared to be “life-threatening” injuries, according to a press release from HPD Capt. Chris Reid which said the earlier incident was a “physical altercation” involving the victims and their attackers.
One of the victims has been identified as Joshua Armstrong, 19, who suffered gunshot wounds to his groin and torso, Howard said. Morrero was wounded in the hand and hip.
The other man was still in intensive care Tuesday and his identity was withheld until family members were notified, Howard said.
Shortly after the shooting, police stopped a vehicle at the intersection of Glenn Bryant and South Main streets, according to Sgt. Franklin Gallob. The five people inside the vehicle were described as persons of interest in the incident.
Howard said there were “multiple family members” living in the Pineland Avenue home, including children, “but there were no children injured nor any evidence to indicate children were present when the events took place.”
Howard said there were no warnings the shooting would take place.
“We haven’t had any significant calls to that location or that residence to indicate anything of that magnitude was going to happen,” he said.
Jeff Whitten contributed to this story.