A table selling shirts supporting a united community.

TIFTON — The Unity Community Against Violence cookout held Saturday, Oct. 28 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in front of Pennywise Food Store in Unionville brought out a large crowd.

County Commissioner Melissa Hughes, who helped organize the event, said that there were approximately 70 people who came to the cookout, which she said was one of the best turnouts she had seen for “Stop the Violence” events.

Hughes said she was happy to see so many pastors and elected officials at the cookout. Mayor Julie Smith and Tifton City Council member Johnny Terrell were there, as was Judge Herbert Benson and Captain Steve Hyman from the Tifton Police Department.

Hyman spoke to the attendees about neighborhood watches and the need for people who live in the community to take an active role in helping keep their neighborhoods safe.

There were several people who expressed interest in starting neighborhood watches after the event, Hughes said.

She was also pleased at the amount of input people who came to the cookout gave.

“I want them to give me input on what they want in their neighborhood,” she said, adding that bringing the community together to push back against unsavory elements is what the unity cookout was all about.

“We will definitely be having more,” Hughes said. Currently there is discussion about having a community unity event every three months.

The cookout was held, in part, as a response to a shooting at Pennywise Food Store.

Store owner Jeta Patel was shot during an armed robbery on Aug 24.

She said that she was closing the store at around 8:45 p.m. when a man whose face was covered with bandanas entered the store demanding money.

“I gave him whatever money I had in my hand,” Patel said in a previous Tifton Gazette article. “He said that it wasn’t enough and he shot me.”

The bullet went up her bicep and under her arm, where it collapsed arteries and damaged nerves.

The case is still being investigated by the Tift County Sheriff’s Office, but there just isn’t a lot to work with, according to Patel.

The man’s face was completely covered and there were no fingerprints able to be lifted.

Both Patel and Hughes believe that the shooter was someone from outside the area.