By Paige Nash
On Monday evening, April 10, the Mayor of Ringgold Milton Vining issued a mandatory curfew for the entirety of the Town of Ringgold following two shootings, one of which resulted in a fatality. The curfew was effective immediately and until further notice travel restrictions were in place between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. with the exception of essential workers, authorized law enforcement and residents seeking medical treatment. According to the mayor’s Facebook page, citations would be issued to those unauthorized to be out during the restricted times.
On Tuesday evening, Mayor Vining clarified that the curfew is actually only for juveniles and will be from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m.
Vining said, “We apologize for any misunderstanding caused by the previous post. The police department will enforce a JUVENILE curfew effective immediately.”
The decision to enforce the curfew was a joint decision between the Mayor and Ringgold Police Department, following two different shootings that resulted in one death over the course of Easter Sunday evening and the following Monday morning.
“The reason we brought on the curfew, it is really a town ordinance that was put in place in 1976, but basically it’s for juveniles. It’s not a city-wide curfew for adults,” said Ringgold Police Department Chief Freddie Peterson. “My job is to keep this town safe. We are enforcing it right now to try to calm down all the thefts, vandalism and shootings.”
The first incident reportedly took place at the Bienville II Apartments in Ringgold at about 9:30 p.m. on Easter Sunday.
“Upon arriving at the scene we found one black male on the ground with a bullet wound. Medics were called and he was transferred to LSU emergency room where he underwent surgery,” said Chief Peterson.
The victim ended up succumbing to his injuries during surgery.
The Ringgold Police Department are currently following up on leads they have for the suspect and are hopeful they will make an arrest soon.
The second shooting took place Monday morning, April 10, in the Ringgold city limits. A man was sitting in his front yard and was allegedly shot at multiple times.
“No one was harmed in that shooting and no arrests have been made. It is still under investigation,” said Peterson.
The chief made it clear that these two shootings were not related in any way and at this point in the investigation, there is no indication that either are gang-related.
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