Three bystanders were sent to a hospital when tempers flared at a Buckhead pool party Saturday evening and a fight ended in gunfire in the parking lot of a nearby Home Depot.
The argument started at the rooftop pool area of The Peninsula at Buckhead on Piedmont Road, poured over into the lobby and continued at a Home Depot across the street, according to Atlanta police. The victims were not believed to be the intended targets.
They were identified by police as 71-year-old Richard Sweeley, 55-year-old Volcan Topalli and 22-year-old Andre Bourdages. Officers found the three men in the parking lot of the Home Depot in the 2500 block of Piedmont Road shortly before 8 p.m., police said in a statement.
All three were stable when they were taken to the hospital.
Investigators determined the men had been shot as the result of an argument that began at the neighboring apartment complex. It is not clear how the fight started, but police said a “large group of people” who were attending a pool party were involved.
“The dispute escalated into the lobby and then outside of the apartment complex which resulted in the shooting,” police said.
In a statement, The Peninsula said the rooftop pool party was “not organized or sanctioned by our property management team.”
“The safety and wellbeing of our residents is and always will be our No. 1 priority,” the apartment community said. “We take very seriously the incident that occurred this past weekend and we are actively working with authorities in the open investigation.”
Authorities are still working to locate the gunman, who was driving a dark-colored vehicle. An investigation is ongoing.
The triple shooting is one of at least six shootings Atlanta police investigated over the weekend. Homicides are up at least 52% from this time last year while the number of shootings has increased more than 40%, according to the Atlanta Police Department’s most recent crime data.
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