The GBI on Sunday identified two men charged in an incident that led an Atlanta police sergeant to fire shots in a Lenox Square mall parking deck.
Atlanta police responded to a reported armed robbery attempt taking place late Saturday.
Christian Edlin, 21, from Louisville, Kentucky, and Antonio Williams, 23, from Flint, Michigan, were both in custody, according to the GBI. The Atlanta police department requested the GBI investigate the incident, which remains under investigation.
Within two hours of the incident, Atlanta police Deputy Chief Jeff Glazier said the sergeant, on patrol at the mall, was alerted to what was believed to be a robbery in a parking deck. At first, two suspects appeared to be attempting the robbery when the sergeant arrived shortly before 8:30 p.m., he said.
“The sergeant ordered the suspect, who had a gun, to drop his gun,” Glazier said Saturday night. “The suspect refused, so our sergeant fired multiple times at the suspect, striking him twice.”
On Sunday, the GBI identified Edlin as a subject rather than a suspect. Williams faces robbery charges.
Investigators determined it was Edlin who was pointing a gun at Williams. And Edlin ignored the sergeant’s commands to drop the weapon, police said.
Edlin was in serious but stable condition Sunday after being shot in the chest and arm, Glazier said. Edlin was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and carrying a pistol without a license, the GBI said.
Williams was charged with robbery by snatching and giving a false name and date of birth. Williams was being held without bond Sunday afternoon at the Fulton County jail.
A third person, believed to have been with Edlin, was not identified Sunday.
Investigators located a weapon at the scene, police said. No officers were injured in the incident.
GBI agents were called to the scene shortly before 9 p.m. to investigate the shooting, the agency said. The shooting is the seventh officer-involved shooting the GBI has investigated this year, according to an agency spokeswoman.
Reports of gunfire sent shoppers scrambling in the mall’s food court, one security guard told Channel 2 Action News. August Sharp said he was in the food court when he heard the commotion.
“I’m in the food court, eating my food, and I look upstairs and people are running. And so now, gunshots. Boom! Boom!” Sharp said. “Kids, fathers holding their kids’ hands. Everyone screaming. Everyone jumping on each other.”
The shooting was the second within a month at the Buckhead mall.
In an unrelated incident, a Macy's employee was shot in the stomach Dec. 21 after refusing to hand over her keys during an attempted carjacking in a mall parking deck, Atlanta police said. On Friday, police announced an arrest in that case.
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