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An innocent bystander was shot in downtown Augusta over the weekend while trying to avoid a group of men fighting on the 900 block of Broad Street.

William Moore, 25, of Augusta (pictured in a selfie from Saturday night before the shooting), was just trying to walk around a small group of men circling each other at 1:52 a.m. Sunday, sheriff’s Sgt. William McCarty said. The location was outside The Loft of Augusta, according to witnesses.

“He encountered two to three other male subjects talking loudly with each other and circling each other, like they were about to fight,” Sgt. McCarty said. “He tried to get around them and about 4-5 gunshots rang out. Very shortly thereafter, he realized he had been shot in the foot. Two to three black male subjects ended up fleeing on foot.”

There have been no arrests, the sergeant said. The sheriff’s office didn’t issue a press release, leading several people to complain on Facebook that the agency was hiding bad news about downtown Augusta.

The victim gave this detailed account to The Jail Report on Sunday night: “I went out with my pals last night to karaoke at Joe’s Underground and afterwards, a little after one a.m, we decided to walk down to knuckle sandwiches and grab a bite, unfortunately we didn’t end up with any sandwiches, I think they were closing. As we were walking back, right before The Loft, three guys seemed to be speaking loudly and one yelled out to the other ‘I’m not going to let him go alone’ as we walked past. Didn’t think much of it.

“Halfway through crossing the street there towards the loft, I heard a bang followed by several others. My foot started to sting, I was wearing slides and caught it in the top of my foot, apparently. I don’t even know where the gunman was. I limped over to The Loft yelling, knocking on the door ‘they’re shooting here, I’m hit, please let us in. I’m afraid that we’re in danger.’ After repeated pounding on the door trying to get out of harms way, one of the gentlemen from the loft walked up to the door and left shook his head ‘no’ and I was bleeding out in front of the establishment with my two friends by my side who were luckily unharmed.

“The police arrived and emts picked me up and took me to AU, luckily, it went clean through my foot and didn’t break any bones.”

Moore also posted a Facebook photo of his injured foot after the shooting. He said staff of The Loft eventually reached out to him to see how he was doing.

Sgt. McCarty said the sheriff’s office wants residents to feel safe in downtown Augusta no matter what hour it is.

“It’s certainly something we are concerned with. And we want to concentrate our efforts in patrolling (that area),” he said. “We are going to have incidents. And I know downtown does get a lot of negative publicity. But we certainly do want people to feel safe at any time of day or night.”

In defense of The Loft. Adrian Estrada provided this defense of The Loft on his Facebook page:

“I can’t help but feel disgust with this. First of all, the establishment was closed and the employees were doing their closing duties with zero knowledge as to what was taking place outside. Monies, personal belongings and business sensitives were out. My staff’s safety comes first and foremost. Under no circumstance are they to open the door to anyone.

“At that moment no one had any idea what was going on or what part of the chaos this gentleman was. Shouting and banging on the door can also be someone with ill intentions. RCSO let my staff know that they did the right thing. It was shortly after that they realized he was friends with some of my employees.

“Many people are judging without knowing the real facts. I’m very proud of my staff. They were speaking to their friend as he was being cared for at the hospital. They are not heartless, cowards, wimps or shameful people. They took care of each other first because they didn’t have an idea what took place outside of TaxSlayer. Not the Loft Augusta.

“I feel for the young gentleman who was innocently hurt. I hate to hear this happening downtown. But what’s more frustrating is reading the comments of Facebook trolls that haven’t even mentioned the shooter or guys fighting. We are not the police or paramedics so I don’t expect my employees to act like them. I hope they catch those who hurt this gentleman.

“But to hold the Loft or its employees accountable for something that is out of our control and taking care of themselves is unfair. I get the Loft is not for everyone. Everyone has their favorite spots. We are a favorite spot to many. We hope to continue to be. We can’t control any one person’s actions. We wish the gentleman hurt a speedy recovery.”

For more crime news, pick up the latest Jail Report paper in local gas stations.