Multiple suspects are being sought after a 15-year-old was shot when police exchanged gunfire with what they described as an “unruly crowd” of up to 600 people near the Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park in suburban Atlanta, authorities say.
The wounded teenager was identified Monday as Syere Littlefield of College Park, Georgia, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
The shooting erupted around 6:15 p.m. Saturday on a service road just off the 290-acre theme park’s property in Austell, about 17 miles northwest of Atlanta, according to the Cobb County Police Department.
Before the shooting, Cobb County police officers were called to the park by Six Flags Over Georgia security to help disperse “a sizeable unruly crowd” of 500 to 600 people “running through the park and fighting,” Cobb County police said in a statement to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
Crime scene near Six Flags Over Georgia, Austell, GA, Mar. 3, 2024.
ABC News/WSB
When police arrived, they were confronted by a large crowd leaving the park, which was celebrating its opening day of the season, according to authorities.
The GBI, which is leading an investigation into the shooting, said in a statement Sunday afternoon that preliminary information indicates Cobb County officers were responding to assist with crowd control near the park’s entrance “after several fights had taken place amongst patrons” leaving the park.
“At some point, multiple people began shooting, hitting an unoccupied CCPD marked patrol car,” according to the GBI statement. “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.”
Littlefield was taken to Grady Hospital in Atlanta in critical condition, according to the GBI.
A handgun was recovered by police near where they located the wounded Littlefield, according to the GBI. It remained unclear Monday if Littlefield fired the gun during the…
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