A shootout near popular Midtown bars and restaurants left about 20 vehicles damaged and the corner of Crescent Avenue and 13th Street littered with more than 60 shell casings, police said.
The gun battle occurred late Thursday, nearly one year after Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed met with Midtown residents and laid out a multi-pronged plan to push back against an uptick in crime.
City spokeswoman Jewanna Gaither said crime in Midtown has decreased since Reed implemented that plan, which included an increase in the number of officers patrolling the streets.
“Mayor Reed and the Atlanta Police Department remain steadfast in their commitment to protect Midtown residents, as well as every neighborhood in the city,” Gaither said Friday afternoon. “Residents and visitors can take comfort knowing we are work hard every day to keep them safe.”
Residents who witnessed the shootout said they felt anything but safe.
“I heard yelling, and it wasn’t like drunk or angry yelling,” said James Keaton Maxwell, who has lived in Midtown for seven years. “It was fear.”
Meghan Kotowski was at the Front Page News restaurant when she heard the gunshots and darted downstairs to hide.
“People were crying and screaming,” she said.
Kotowski, who has lived in Midtown for 12 years, said police told her someone was firing shots from the parking lot across the street. Officers put the restaurant on lockdown for about 30 minutes, she said.
No one was injured in the shootout.
However, a hotel and a condominium complex on 14th Street were hit by bullets, rupturing a water line and causing flooding inside the Mayfair condominiums, Atlanta police Officer Kim Jones said. Atlanta Marriott Suites Midtown moved guests in a room struck by one of the bullets to another room, police said.
There were initial reports of a person with an AK-47 entering a local parking deck about 11:30 p.m. A person in an SUV limousine flagged down officers saying the limousine was struck by gunfire on Crescent.
Police found rounds from an AK-47 rifle and at least four different guns in bushes near a parking lot in the 1100 block of Crescent Avenue, Jones said.
“Units blocked streets with access into the immediate area,” Jones said. “The deck was searched, but no suspect or weapon was found.”
As police cleared the parking lot, they found a man lying behind cars, Jones said. The man was not charged.
No arrests had been made as of Friday afternoon.
About 100 vehicles near the shootout “were held until evidence was collected.”
The scene was cleared about 2:30 a.m. Friday.
The cars were released, and the intersection was reopened to traffic.
“These types of crimes will not be tolerated in the City of Atlanta,” Gaither, the city spokeswoman, said. “Those responsible for this senseless and reckless shooting will be brought to justice.”
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