Fulton County police are searching for suspects who opened fire during a neighborhood cookout and injured a 3-year-old boy, a 5-year-old girl and an adult.
The girl is in critical condition, according to Channel 2 Action News.
The children were playing in an inflatable bounce house when the shooting happened about 6:50 p.m. Thursday in the 1000 block of Buckhurst Drive in south Fulton County.
Witnesses say three men in an SUV opened fire on the nearly 100-plus crowd, Channel 2 reported. One of the bullets hit a house.
Whaley Kevin
Whaley Kevin
"They were playing on the bounce house and next thing you know, my grandson was shot in the back," Deanna Titus told Channel 2.
Titus said her daughter, the boy's mother Megan Holmes, heard the shots and ran outside to find 3-year-old Lawrence Williams shot in the back.
“I thought they were setting off fireworks for the kids,” Megan Holmes told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
She took Lawrence to Southern Regional Hospital, and he was later flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, where he underwent surgery to clean a wound to his back.
The bullet missed doing significant damage, Holmes told The AJC. On Friday afternoon, Lawrence was able to eat Chinese food and make a trip to the hospital’s library.
“They said if it was a couple more inches, it would’ve hit his lung and it would’ve been horrible,” Megan Holmes said.
The 5-year-old girl, whose name was not released, was shot in the stomach, according to witnesses. The condition of the adult who was shot was not released.
Titus said she convinced her daughter to move from New York City to metro Atlanta after someone shot and killed her son last year.
"It's very hard, very hard," she said.
Investigators found at least 40 shell casings and said unknown people in a vehicle were seen leaving the scene.
Raisa Habersham
Raisa Habersham
South Fulton city councilman-elect Mark Baker said his concern is with the kids.
"We want people to come forward,” he told Channel 2, “and own up because this could be their little brother and sister.”
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 404-577-8477.
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