A suspect is at large after a shooting in Georgia killed three and wounded several others.
Six people were shot Sunday night at a condominium complex in DeKalb County, east of Atlanta, Georgia, killing three and wounding three.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Lt. Shane Smith of the DeKalb Police Department Sunday night said no suspects had been taken into custody.
Multiple 911 calls were made around 7:50 p.m. Sunday to report shots fired at the Brannon Hill complex on the 6500 block of Old Hampton Drive near Clarkston, Lt. Smith.
When officers arrived, they found five people with gunshot wounds, three of whom were dead. The two survivors were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries.
Another injured person later arrived at the hospital, police said. The names of the victims were not released to the public.
“The location has been cordoned off and we have detectives on site interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence,” Lt. Smith told the newspaper in a statement. “There are currently no suspects in custody.”
In a statement Monday morning, DeKalb County Executive Director Michael Thurmond said he had “directed Sheriff Mirtha Ramos to allocate all necessary resources to investigate the deadly shooting at the Brannon Hill gated community on May 8 in order to bring those responsible to justice.” place”.
People were unable to enter their homes Sunday night as police locked down the entire complex, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. While authorities are yet to arrest a suspect, police have said they do not believe members of the public are being actively threatened.
“It always happens in this place, so we’re not surprised,” resident King Brown told 11alive. “Maybe it’s a bit safe if you come during the day, but not at night. It’s a dangerous place.”
The complex attracted media attention in January when a fire broke out in a partially abandoned building.
According to 11alive, people in the area view the complex as an eyesore and dangerous to life. In 2015, it was named “the worst neighborhood in America” by the Deen Media Center, a local organization.
The county has tried for years to demolish the property, and the DeKalb Fire Chief said in January the department is often called to the area.
The complex has been battling fires, squatters and crime for at least two decades, 11alive reported.
At one point the community had more than 300 units, but over the years more than 100 of these have been demolished and about 100 remain occupied.
In 2015, Vice reported that Brannon Hill had been “ravaged by gangs, fires and abject poverty” and that the complex “should rightly be demolished before it collapses.”
Many of the residents at the time were technically squatters, according to the outlet, adding that “open-air drug dealing, sex work, gang warfare, arson and murder” were rampant in the area.
Many of the residents are from East Africa, particularly Somalia, who came to Brannon Hill in part because of the nearby refugee community of Clarkston, Georgia.
Vice noted that the community’s problems are “the result of multiple levels of institutional failure,” beginning with the homeowners’ association and ending with the county government.