1 dead after water gun fight ends in gunfire in popular metro Atlanta park

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. — The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said it is interviewing witnesses in a water gun fight that left one person dead.

Deputies say at one point someone put down the water gun and picked up a real gun.

The shooting happened Friday evening at Kenwood Park in Fayette County.

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People at the park told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington that the shooting happened just a few steps from a playground.

“What happened here was truly sad and unfortunate,” said Keith L. Brown, who heads the Kings of Kenwood Mentorship Group.

Brown said the water gun fight was not supposed to end the way it did.

“This was an isolated incident. It’s not like that in Kenwood park,” Brown said.

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The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said a group of young people threw water balloons and started the water gun fight around 5 p.m. Friday.

Then, for some reason, things escalated. Deputies say some people in the group started to fight.

At one point, according to investigators, someone grabbed a gun and began to shoot.

One person was hurt and rushed to the hospital. A second person was shot. That person collapsed at the park and later died at the hospital.

“It’s just sad that kids can’t come and have fun without bringing a gun,” said Daisey Woods, who lives near the park and goes there often.

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She thinks young people in the community need more to do.

“I think they have too much time on their hands,” Woods said.

Deputies told Washington on Monday that they are interviewing witnesses and working to determine who pulled the trigger.

As for Brown, he and his group are working to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“How do you talk to kids about not letting it escalate?” Washington asked Brown.

“It’s a daily walk. We do this on a daily basis and when there are young people at the park, we talk to them about life skills and leadership and about being positive,” Brown said.

People at the park who knew about the incident told Washington that some of the people involved were not from the area.

Investigators have not released the identity of the person who was killed.

Crime stats, including murders, shootings, assaults, up drastically across Atlanta

Cox Media Group