Atlanta police are looking for four masked gunmen who allegedly robbed four friends at gunpoint and threatened to kill them.
The friends were walking to their cars outside Burkhart’s Pub on Piedmont Avenue when four masked men pulled into the parking lot, jumped out of a white Jeep and aimed guns at them during the Fourth of July weekend, according to a police report. The gunmen demanded the friends’ wallets and that they lie face down on the ground.
“At first I thought it was one of our friends playing some sick prank on us,” Tripp Barrett told Channel 2 Action News on Tuesday. “And then whenever I felt the gun against my forehead or against my temple, I said no, this is real.”
The gunmen stole Barrett’s keys and his friend’s 2014 Nissan Maxima. Everything happened in an instant, Barrett told Channel 2, but the incident didn’t end there.
When the gunmen left, they told the victims to “just get on the ground, don’t look at us, we’ll kill you,” Barrett said.
While he’s thankful no one got hurt, Barrett and his friends have been uneasy since the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando last month, when nearly 50 people were killed.
“A lot of anxiety at that point, you know,” Barrett said, “(I went) from having a great night with friends that I haven’t seen in a while to trying to stay alive. You know, it was very scary.”
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (404) 577-8477. Tipsters can remain anonymous and are eligible for a reward.
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