Staff fed up after bullet hits barber shop during shootout
A barber shop employee is fed up with a spate of violence in a southwest Atlanta neighborhood. In the most recent incident, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Atlanta police shot and killed a man who shot across from Chick-fil-A on Friday night. One of the bullets hit the business.
Atlanta – Atlanta police shot and killed a man Friday night across the street from a Chick-fil-A in southwest Atlanta, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
A nearby barber shop was caught in an exchange of fire as bullets flew.
“We just had a window replaced yesterday and our door just got a bullet, so now we have to replace a door,” said Sabir Grant, a barber at KO Barber.
He worked as a barber at Martin Luther King, Jr. Driven for the past 10 years, but he said it had gotten worse recently.
“It’s never been like this,” Grant said. “There’s always something going on in every field, but I’m telling you, after the gun laws changed, it seemed to get pretty intense.”
The latest ‘nervous’ situation happened just before 9pm on Friday
Police closed part of Martin Luther King Jr. October Avenue February 28, 2022, in Atlanta. (Fox 5 Atlanta)
“There was an ongoing shootout at the MLK. The officers got out of their cars and came across a guy who was actively firing,” said Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr.
Investigators said officers opened fire after repeatedly ordering the man to drop his weapon. Willie Williams, 35, was killed, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. No officers were injured.
“At this time, it is not known if the injury was the result of the officer’s shooting, as he was actively involved in previous shootouts,” Hampton Jr. said.
The shooting is the latest in a string of violent incidents in the region. On Wednesday, a KFC employee was injured in a shooting less than a quarter of a mile away. A man was killed on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard about a mile away on Thursday.
Back at the barbershop, Grant said a lot of the problems in the area are caused by people who don’t live here. He said he hoped the police would do more.
“I just want to see them focus more on pressing issues because we do live in a situation where guns are very accessible right now,” Grant said.
Grant said that despite their innocence in it all, the increase in violence looked bad for them.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the police shooting. Atlanta police did not explain what they believe happened before officers arrived.