Tybee Island's Orange Crush Beach Party Was A Disaster With Drugs, A Woman Shot In The Back, Twerking, But 'No Lives Were Lost'

At least nobody was shot and killed.

That's the message out of Tybee Island, Georgia where the Orange Crush beach party that attracted 40,000 to 50,000, many of them college students from historically black colleges and universities, took place over the weekend. The island's mayor, Shirley Sessions, says even though the complete disaster of a beach party included all sorts of ridiculous debauchery that has made its way to social media, there's good news.

"Tybee Island is fortunate that no lives were lost and no property destroyed," Sessions told Savannah news outlets.

Well, that's positive.

Island officials told WJCL-Savannah that there were an estimated 12,000 vehicles on the island, which caused "high volumes of gridlock, traffic accidents, crowding, drug and alcohol abuse, noise complaints, illegal parking and litter."

In one shooting incident on Highway 80, which connects Savannah and Tybee, a woman was shot in the back while stuck in traffic. Police say a suspect has been arrested in that incident. The shooter is reportedly 38 years old and faces six felonies for shooting into a car full of people.

In another incident reported by the Savannah Morning News, people ran for cover on the Tybee beach after someone flashed a gun.

"Because Tybee Island is a public beach, we are limited in what we can do to control this event," Sessions added. "However, going forward, we will work on better solutions."

The CEO of a Savannah-based emergency services company told the Savannah newspaper that the traffic jams Saturday were like traffic jams he'd seen in Florida when people were evacuating from hurricanes.

And then there's the story of the prayer angel at Saint Michael's Catholic Church on Tybee. It was snapped off at the feet and destroyed at some point during the party.

But...at least nobody was shot and killed.