Gunman at large after three killed and more injured in Georgia shooting
Community dubbed ‘worst neighbourhood in America’ after decades of corruption, crime and neglect
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A suspect is at large after three people were killed and several others were injured in a shooting in Georgia.
Six people were shot, leaving three dead and three injured, at a condominium complex in DeKalb County east of Atlanta on Sunday night.
Lt Shane Smith of the DeKalb police department said late on Sunday that no suspects had been apprehended, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Multiple 911 calls were made shortly before 8pm on Sunday reporting shots fired at the Brannon Hill complex in the 6500 block of Old Hampton Drive, close to Clarkston, Lt Smith said.
When officers arrived, they found five people with gunshot wounds, three of whom were dead. The two surviving individuals were taken to hospitals in the area with serious injuries.
Another injured person later arrived at the hospital, police said. The names of the victims have not been shared with the public.
“The location has been secured and we have detectives on scene interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence,” Lt Smith told the paper in a statement. “No suspects are currently detained.”
In a statement on Monday morning, DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said that he had “directed Police Chief Mirtha Ramos to allocate all necessary resources to investigate the deadly shootings at Brannon Hill Condominium on May 8 to bring those responsible to justice”.
People were shut out of their homes on Sunday night as the entire complex was closed off by police, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. While the authorities have yet to arrest a suspect, police have said they don’t believe there’s an active threat to members of the public.
“It’s always at this place, so we’re not surprised,” resident King Brown told 11alive. “Maybe if you come at daytime it’s a little bit safe, but not at night at all. It’s a dangerous place.”
The complex garnered media attention in January when a fire erupted in a partially abandoned building.
According to 11alive, people in the area consider the complex to be an eyesore and a danger to live in. It was described as the “worst neighbourhood in America” by the Deen Media Center, a local organisation, in 2015.
The county has tried for years to demolish the property and the DeKalb fire captain said in January that the department is often called to the area.
The complex has been struggling with fires, squatters and crime for at least the last two decades, 11alive reported.
At one point, the community had more than 300 units, but over the years, more than 100 of them have been demolished and around 100 remain occupied.
In 2015, Vice reported that Brannon Hill had been “ravaged by gangs, fires, and abject poverty” and that the complex “by all rights should just be torn down before it collapses”.
Many of the residents were technically squatters at the time, according to the outlet, adding that “open-air drug dealing, sex work, gang warfare, arson, and killings” were prevalent in the area.
Many of the residents are from East Africa, specifically Somalia, who arrived at Brannon Hill partly because of the nearby Clarkston, Georgia refugee community.
Vice noted that the issues facing the community were “the result of several levels of institutional failure” starting with the condominium association and going up to the county government.