Teen critically injured in police shooting near Six Flags in Georgia
Police were called to disperse a brawl on opening day at the Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park in suburban Atlanta
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A 15-year-old was critically injured by police gunfire outside the Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park in suburban Atlanta on Saturday, authorities said.
Officers with the Cobb County Police Department responded to the popular amusement park around 6.15pm to assist with crowd control when the shooting unfolded, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a press release.
Park security had called police to help disperse “a sizable unruly crowd” of 500 to 600 people “running through the park and fighting,” Cobb County police said in a statement.
“At some point, multiple people began shooting, hitting an unoccupied CCPD marked patrol car,” according to the GBI release.
“As officers identified where the shots were coming from, they ran after people who had run into the woods. During the incident, one CCPD officer fired his weapon, hitting one minor.”
The teenager, whose identity has not been released, was transported to Grady Hospital and remains in critical condition. Police said a handgun was recovered near the teen, but no further details were released.
No one else was injured.
The GBI is conducting an independent investigation into the shooting and will submit findings to the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.
Six Flags officials said the shooting occurred on the South Service Road, which is not owned or operated by the theme park, which opened for the season on 2 March.
“It is incredibly disappointing that our community is disrupted at public events throughout the region by groups of underaged youth,” Six Flags Over Georgia said in a statement to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
“Just like other venues in the area, we are committed to keeping this type of trouble outside our park and off our property.”
“However, we join our community and the Atlanta region in our commitment to safety and security. We won’t put up with that type of activity here,” the statement continued, with park officials adding that the park has “state-of-the-art security systems and metal detection.”
“Every guest is expected to follow our strict code of conduct and anyone unwilling to follow that code of conduct is unwelcome.”