A man was taken to the hospital after being shot along a walking path inside Piedmont Park late Tuesday night, according to Atlanta police.
The 911 call came in at about 9:40 p.m. about a person shot near the Midtown park’s 12th Street entrance, which is located on Piedmont Avenue by the community center. Responding officers found the 28-year-old victim alert, police said.
Police did not say if the man had been walking along the path on his own or planned to meet someone. No information about a possible suspect was released.
City officials bolstered safety measures at the park after the grisly July 2021 killing of 40-year-old Katie Janness and her dog, Bowie, whose bodies were found about 100 yards inside the 10th Street entrance.
Janness had gone for an evening walk with her dog, and when the pair didn’t return to their Midtown home, her longtime girlfriend, Emma Clark, used a phone tracker to locate them. Janness had been stabbed at least 50 times, leaving her badly disfigured.
Her death stunned the city. It was the first homicide inside Piedmont Park in about 12 years, police said at the time, and leaders were quick to assuage fears that the city’s premier park was no longer safe. Former mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms put to bed rumors of a serial killer and said there was no evidence the killing was a hate crime. While promising a robust effort to solve the case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis urged residents not to go into the park alone at night.
In the nearly two years since, the case remains under investigation and no arrests have been made.
The last known image of Janness and her dog was captured by a security camera at the rainbow crosswalk intersection near the Charles Allen Gate. The cameras inside the park, installed in 2008, were no longer compatible with the newer cameras in the city and rendered obsolete.
In response, the city installed new cameras that are connected to the Atlanta Police Department’s network of public safety cameras. And the Piedmont Park Conservancy launched the Safe Haven Fund to support safety improvements recommended by the city, especially to improve visibility at night.
As a result, the light bulbs and poles in the area between 12th and 14th streets and the Noguchi Playscape were repaired or replaced, the conservancy said. Overgrown shrubs and grasses were removed and overgrowth around Lake Clara Meer was cleared to allow for better illumination along the lake’s pathways.
The conservancy also said it worked with arborists to specialize tree pruning to increase light distribution, and convex mirrors were installed in key areas to increase awareness and visibility.
About the Author
