The 15-year-old girl is found shot dead at a party attended by HUNDREDS of Atlanta high school students – while police are now launching a manhunt for the killer
- Laila Harris, 15, was shot and killed at a high school birthday party attended by hundreds of students
- Investigators suspect the shooter may have been kicked out of the party before returning with an accomplice and firing multiple shots
- Police arrived at the scene and found Harris at the entrance of a building on Block 1000 of Citizens Parkway as students ran away
An Atlanta teenager was shot dead at a birthday party attended by hundreds of high school students.
Laila Renee’ Harris, 15, was found dead by police at the entrance of a building on the 1000 block of Citizens Parkway and Jonesboro Road around 11 a.m. Saturday. Police arrived at the building after receiving a call about a shooting.
Cops speculate the shooter may have been kicked out of the party before returning with an accomplice and firing multiple rounds. There were no other casualties.
“I suppose when others ran away and ran, she got caught in the crossfire,” Clayton Police spokeswoman Julia Isaac said at a news conference.
Isaac said at least one student should know the shooter’s identity, but did not reveal any potential suspects.
Laila Harris, 15, was shot and killed at a high school birthday party attended by hundreds of students
Investigators suspect the shooter may have been kicked out of the party before returning with an accomplice and firing multiple shots
Police arrived at the scene and found Harris at the entrance of a building on Block 1000 of Citizens Parkway as students ran away
A GoFundMe account was set up on Sunday to support Harris’ mom. Organizer Kailyn Crawford wrote that Harris was just a teenager when she was killed.
“She was tragically killed while attending a birthday party and just doing what every fifteen year old loves to do which is having fun and now we have lost her to a senseless act of violence,” Crawford wrote.
More than $4,000 was raised to ship Harris’ body to her hometown of Saint Louis.
Police are asking for the public’s help in locating possible suspects. Isaac also urged parents to keep an eye on their children, blaming teenage car break-ins for how young people get guns.
“All I ask is that parents know where their teens are,” she said. “We get several reports each week of youngsters running away or sneaking away from home and then they come back a few hours or days later.
“It’s like a revolving door because we mostly have teenagers breaking into cars. If they see guns in the cars, they will break the window to get that gun and they in turn will use that gun to commit another crime. So it comes full circle.”
More than $4,000 was raised to ship Harris’ body to her hometown of Saint Louis
The high school party shooting was the second fatal incident on Saturday night.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one person was killed and five injured on the 17th Street bridge at Atlantic Station when a gunman opened fire.
The shooting followed a group being escorted off the property by police officers.
Police identified the victims as between the ages of 15 and 21.