3 People are wounded by the gunman in an Atlanta food court before a cop shoots him, according to the police
Before being shot by a police officer on Tuesday afternoon, the gunman at a food court in downtown Atlanta had shot three individuals, according to the authorities.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum says all four of the persons who were shot at the Peachtree Center food court—including the suspect—are expected to live.
Mayor Andre Dickens commended the responding police who injured the gunman at a press conference.
Dickens remarked, “Things could have gotten worse had he not been there.”
Amidst several hotel blocks, Peachtree Center is a complex of office towers and an underground mall that serves as the hub of Atlanta’s bustling convention industry.
The gunshot occurred at approximately 2:15 p.m. stated Schierbaum.
Three individuals, a 47-year-old Grayson male, a 69-year-old East Point lady, and a 70-year-old Atlanta woman, were shot by the suspect. stated Schierbaum.
According to Schierbaum, the suspect, a 34-year-old male from Morrow, a small town south of Atlanta, got into a “brief altercation” with one of the victims before drawing a revolver and shooting the victim. Then, according to Schierbaum, he shot two more victims. Whether the shooter knew the victims is still unknown.
According to Schierbaum, two of the four individuals who were rushed to hospitals are in critical condition.
After engaging the individual in conversation, an off-duty Atlanta police officer providing security at the food court fired and hurt him. According to Schierbaum, the policeman “acted decisively, put himself in danger, and ended that threat to the community.” He said the shooting and the subsequent action were captured on camera by the mall.
The guy had done time in jail for armed robbery and had been arrested several times before. He wasn’t supposed to have a gun because of that previous criminal record, according to Schierbaum.
As is customary in the state when a police officer shoots someone, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting’s circumstances.
Following the incident, large groups of people congregated at a nearby junction, with many of them enquiring as to what had transpired. As police and firefighters arrived on the site, several blocks of Peachtree Street were taped off with crime scene tape. The city’s main library and nearby hotels have security personnel on duty.
Atlanta resident Elizabeth Ingram claimed to have heard the opening gunfire as she was leaving the Chick-fil-A break room where she works. She claimed that one of the managers had shoved her and her coworkers back into the break room and onto the ground.
“After a minute of relaxation, we heard more gunfire,” she remarked. “So we immediately retreated.”
Atlanta resident Tab Tambe claimed that when the shooting started, he had just purchased lunch at Chick-fil-A and was sitting down to eat. Tambe claimed that there “was blood all over the place” close to a pizza establishment and a Mexican restaurant after he collapsed while he and others fled the still-bustling food court. Tambe said he left his phone behind and dashed around a corner, but he stayed inside the building.
“I was just waiting to see what was going to happen; I’m not sure if it was just me being brave or worried about my phone,” he remarked.
Tambe claimed that after the suspect and the police officer traded gunfire, he watched as the shooter was approached “bit by bit” by officers as he peered around the corner of a wall.
Tambe stated, “He was on the ground, and the police were encircling him.”
According to Schierbaum, a second cop kicked the injured shooter’s pistol away. After that, the four injured individuals received first aid from the officers, including the use of a tourniquet to stem the gunman’s bleeding, before they were all transported to hospitals.
Ingram reported seeing individuals taken away on stretchers.
She remarked, “You never know what can happen.” It appeared out of the blue. It was so terrifying that I worried that I might not live to see my son again. My heart was racing so quickly.
Ten office buildings, three sizable hotels, four trade show buildings, and four parking garages make up the Peachtree Center complex. It was created by architect John Portman and covers more than 14 blocks in Atlanta’s downtown area. As office vacancies increased, a previous owner’s credit failure resulted in the foreclosure of six of the office buildings in 2022.