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Gun violence grips city as police search for suspect in random shooting of 7-year-old girl

A 7-year-old girl remains in critical condition after an apparent random shooting as she rode in a car past Phipps Plaza in Buckhead on Dec. 21.

Gun violence continued to grip the city on Tuesday, Dec. 22, after a man was shot to death during an argument outside the Greyhound station in Downtown. Atlanta Police Department investigators are still searching for the subject who fled the scene.

Within hours, another man was found with multiple gunshot wounds on Newcastle Street on the Westside and yet another man was shot in the shoulder at the North Avenue MARTA station in Midtown. APD continues to investigate both incidents.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for any information about the shooting of the girl. According to APD, the victim’s aunt said she, the victim and the victim’s mother were driving past Phipps Plaza round 9 p.m. when she heard several gunshots. The aunt continued driving and a short time later “noticed that the victim was acting strangely,” then realized the child had been shot.

She drove the girl to Scottish Rite Hospital where doctors discovered she had a gunshot wound to the back of the head, according to APD.

At a Dec. 22 press conference, APD commanders said a group of males had a “dispute” in the mall’s parking lot at the time of the shooting. But investigators had not confirmed that the gunfire came from that incident. Investigators said they do not believe the shooter or shooters intended to hit the vehicle or the victim, who is from Mableton, or had any connection with them. However, the investigation was continuing. The bullet that hit the child entered the vehicle from the rear, investigators said.

In a scathing written statement, Atlanta City Councilman Howard Shook, who represents Buckhead, said, “It will take a lot to turn this around. But here, in descending order, are the three things we need to begin: 1) Leadership; 2) Some leadership; 3) Any leadership.”

“This has to end,” Councilman J.P. Matzigkeit said in a phone interview. “We are at war with crime and we have to start acting like it.”

Both Shook and Matzigkeit helped develop the Buckhead Security Plan, which  calls for beefing up tactics and politically challenges Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to denounce crime.

Phipps Plaza’s neighboring sister mall, Lenox Square, has been the scene of a string of shootings over the past 12 months, recently leading to the deployment of metal detectors and gun-sniffing dogs.

– John Ruch contributed to this report

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