Atlanta police are investigating after an employee was shot in the arm last week outside a luxury Buckhead restaurant during dinner service.
Atlanta officers were called to Kyma on Piedmont Road near Buckhead Village on Sept. 12 around 8 p.m. and found the man suffering from two gunshot wounds. He was stable when taken to the hospital.
According to the incident report, the employee was on his break when he was shot. He told police he saw two men in a dark-colored sedan driving away from the parking lot of the restaurant when they shot at him. The gunfire also hit the passenger window of the suspects’ car, causing it to shatter and leave bits of glass at the scene, the incident report states.
The employee’s red Nissan was damaged and his leather backpack was stolen from his vehicle, according to the report. No suspects have been identified.
A 911 call and police radio communication were released three days after the shooting. The 911 caller told dispatchers that two men were seen driving away from the scene after the shooting.
Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, which owns Kyma, has not responded to questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Sunday’s shooting comes just two days after a fatal shooting at a Buckhead shopping center.
Dontavious Cobb, 19, was shot to death and Coby Senior, 17, was injured after the two are said to have been breaking into a vehicle in front of the Publix in the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center, police said. When the owner of the SUV returned, police said a confrontation escalated into gunfire.
Senior is believed to have fired his own gun at the SUV’s owner as he fled. In addition to facing a felony murder charge in connection with Cobb’s death, Senior is being charged with entering an auto, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a person under 18, police said.
The rise in crime and concerns for safety have become the leading factors behind the Buckhead cityhood movement.
“The city of Atlanta simply cannot keep the entire city safe. We believe it is in the best interest of the entirety of metro Atlanta to have a police force in Buckhead City that can adequately deal with crime and take the pressure off of the Atlanta Police Department by reducing the areas they need to patrol,” Buckhead Exploratory Committee President Sam Lenaeus said.
Critics, including Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, argue that a new city is divisive and won’t necessarily reduce crime. They also worry that Atlanta would lose much of its tax revenue, leaving the city in a weaker financial state.
“Buckhead has, and always will be an important and valued part of Atlanta,” a spokesman for Bottoms has said.
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