3 dead in early morning shooting near Southwest Atlanta club

ATLANTA — Atlanta police are investigating a triple shooting early Sunday morning that left three people dead.

According to homicide investigators, the shooting happened around 12:45 a.m. in the parking lot of a building that houses KISS Ultra Lounge, a smoke shop and another business.

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The parking lot sits at the intersection of Whitehall Road and McDaniel Street just southwest of downtown Atlanta.

Investigators said when they arrived at the scene, the found three Black males between the ages of 35 and 45 dead in the parking lot. One of the victims was in a wheelchair.

Channel 2 Action News Reporter Elizabeth Rawlins spoke to some area residents and business owners who said they are totally fed up with all of the violence.

“It was a barrage of gunfire followed by another barrage of gunfire,” one resident said.

One of the victims in Sunday morning’s incident was a wheelchair bound man who nearby a nearby business owner said was well known in the area.

“He is one of the regulars that comes out, hangs out and sits in the front of the parking lot,” said the business owner.

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Rawlins said both the business owner and the resident wanted to be identified, but both were desperate to voice their concern about the violence.

“To be honest, I’m greatly disturbed because the police could have stopped this,” the business owner said. “It’s pretty obvious what goes on around this block.”

“Years back, the police were very responsive to things, but it’s taken a toll on them too,” the resident said. “It’s become so commonplace, I didn’t even get out of bed to check on it.”

Dozens of bystanders were force to wait and watch the investigation from across the street. Many had cars in the parking lot that became the crime scene. Atlanta police also shut down the intersection, forcing approaching cars to turn around.

Homicide investigators are still trying to piece together what led up to the shooting, they stayed on the scene for nearly five hours. They spent most of that time processing evidence and interviewing witnesses.

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“I’m already in the process of moving, I’m building a house elsewhere,” the resident said.

“It makes it bad for us,” the Business owner said. “A lot of my customers have stopped coming because of all the violence.

We’ll have updates and the latest information on Channel 2 Action News at Noon

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