Last September, Atlanta City Councilman Jason Dozier witnessed a drive-by shooting that injured three people during a community event in the Mechanicsville neighborhood he represents and lives in. The incident occurred at an intersection near Rosa L. Burney Park, which has been a hotbed of violence in recent years.
After the shots rang out, Dozier was quickly ushered into a police vehicle, while Mechanicsville Civic Association President David Holder, who was also there to check out the event, sped down Windsor Street in his car to escape the gunfire.
“I thought that someone was firing shots at me,” Holder said. “I took off. It was the scariest thing.”
Despite officials taking steps to limit violence near the park, Holder still felt there would be problems surrounding the annual event in the future due to what he called poor planning and most attendees coming from outside the area.
That’s exactly what happened.
On Saturday night, gunfire erupted again following the Mechanicsville Reunion, in which former residents come together each year to celebrate the community. Five people were shot, including three teenagers, police said, despite officers being in the area as a precaution. A 29-year-old woman remains in critical condition.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
“That intersection in general has been, unfortunately, a hotbed of gun violence for years, not just with the reunion,” Dozier said.
Dozier, whose family has lived in the neighborhood for a decade, said residents have been “absolutely frustrated” about the recent gunfire, and many have called for a greater police presence.
According to police, the event concluded by 9 p.m. and the victims were shot about an hour later in the parking lot of an apartment complex across the street from the park. The neighborhood sits south of I-20 and to the west of I-85. Authorities have not shared any details about suspects, but they did not live in the neighborhood, Dozier said. Holder estimated there was only about 10 people at Saturday’s event who were currently living in Mechanicsville.
“If there’s some beef, if there’s a conflict, people know that you’re here,” he added.
Officers responded around 10 p.m. and found five people shot, all of whom were taken to the hospital. The other four victims, a 17-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy, a 15-year-old boy and a 33-year-old woman, were all said to be stable. Their names were not released.
Several hours before the gunfire, longtime Mechanicsville resident Ocie Fulford had warned his 15-year-old son to be careful at the reunion and stressed that he needed to leave early. By 9 p.m., Fulford sat with cheerful guests at a party, but his mind was elsewhere. At 9:20 p.m., he texted his son to leave.
No answer.
Fulford could see his son was still there due to his phone location. But as the minutes went by, the father’s stomach continued to turn. Fulford eventually decided to drive to the park and was along Windsor Street when a passerby yelled, “They’re shooting. They’re shooting,” he said.
Nearby, a set of sneakers was on the ground, causing his heart to drop, believing they might belong to his child. His pulse pounding as he navigated traffic, Fulford finally found some relief a few minutes later when his son answered the phone.
After being reunited on nearby McDaniel Street, the teenager said he had heard and felt bullets fly by his head while running from the chaos.
“The only thing that came out of my mouth was ‘I told you to leave at 9:30 p.m. This is exactly what I knew was going to happen,’” Fulford said.
During last year’s reunion shooting, police said a dark-colored Ford Focus drove past three people who were outside Windsor Super Market at the intersection of Richardson Street and Windsor Street and someone inside opened fire.
According to a police incident report, a man standing at the store took cover but was shot in his left biceps and armpit, while a woman cleaning her car in the parking lot was struck in the left collarbone. A third woman was shot in the back of the head but survived, the report added. Police said several vehicles were damaged and 35 shell casings were found.
The recent violence led residents to request additional law enforcement in the area. On Saturday, Dozier said organizers worked with Atlanta police to ensure a greater presence.
“In fact, there were officers over in the park, in the parking lot, at the apartments, and this still happened,” Dozier said. “So even having police presence visible and active and engaged seems to speak to the fact that the people perpetrating these crimes are emboldened and unafraid, and it speaks to the need for citywide initiatives to ensure that we can really get this addressed in the way that we need to.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Renee Giles, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than two decades, said she felt safe in the past while working for a nonprofit at the Dunbar Neighborhood Center, a community center inside the park. She also used to attend the reunion but had to stop in recent years due to personal reasons.
The reunion began as a place for a gospel concert, with band kids from different schools playing until the early evening. Holder said it has morphed into a block party in recent years with limited structure. Another longtime resident, Sharon Collins, attended the gathering Saturday and described it as fun, lively and peaceful. She said it even topped previous reunions she organized for about two decades starting in the early 1990s.
According to Holder, the application for Saturday’s reunion stated there was going to be 125 people, but more than 500 showed up. Dozier said they are now looking into the permit process for community gatherings and having them end earlier in the night.
Safety and security improvements have been made at the park after two people were killed and four were injured during a shooting at a softball tournament there in 2022. Additional cameras and lights were set up and speed humps were installed last year, Dozier said.
Credit: Riley Bunch/riley.bunch@ajc.com
Credit: Riley Bunch/riley.bunch@ajc.com
In September, the neighborhood is hosting a gun violence reduction symposium in partnership with Emory University at the Dunbar Neighborhood Center. Holder said they are looking into adding “Block Captains,” members of the community who would each watch a specific street. APD officials and city leaders are being invited to a committee meeting on the violence Tuesday, he added.
‘I’ve been here for a decade, I’m not going anywhere,” Dozier added. “At the end of the day, people want to be safe in a neighborhood, and people deserve to be safe in their neighborhood, and that’s what we’re going to continue to try to work to make sure it happens.”
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