ATLANTA, GA — A 12-year-old boy died and five teenagers were injured in a shooting near Atlantic Station over the weekend, according to police.
The incident happened around 8 p.m. Saturday, police said. Several news outlets identified the deceased child as Zyion Charles.
According to authorities, teenagers from Atlantic Station were escorted by off-duty Atlanta police and security forces for disorderly conduct and curfew violations. Not long after the minors were removed, an escalating argument led to shootings in the 17th Street and Interstate 75 area, police said.
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Charles died after the shooting while a teenager was in critical condition and four others were recovering from gunshot wounds, Mayor Andre Dickens said at a news conference Sunday afternoon streamed on Facebook by the Atlanta Police Department.
“It’s important to know where your child is at all times,” Dickens said, noting that he had spoken to several of the victims’ parents and most were unaware that their child was alive at or about the time of the shooting Atlantic Station was the mall’s curfew. “I am now asking parents that you use your phones. Your Android and your iPhone – they all have trackers.”
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Police were on the scene “almost immediately,” Chief Darin Schierbaum said, noting that some of the teenagers involved in the shooting were known to the Atlanta Police Department and warrants are expected to be issued. According to Dickens, 26 off-duty Atlanta officers and 10 security guards were working at Atlantic Station as of Saturday night. Atlantic Station has doubled its on-site law enforcement for the foreseeable future, the mall said in a statement to 11 ALIVE.
According to Schierbaum, three handguns were secured at the crime scene.
“What the Atlanta Police Department or Atlantic Station can’t do is be a parent,” Schierbaum said at the news conference. “Please exercise your influence as an adult in someone’s life. … Do you know if your child has a gun.”
The children and youth involved in Saturday’s shooting included students from Atlanta Public Schools, KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools, the Cobb County School District and schools in Fairburn, according to Dickens.
Anyone with camera footage of the shooting or other information is asked to call Atlanta Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.
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