‘It’s terrifying.’ People say they are constantly hearing gunfire from DeKalb County park

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — South DeKalb homeowners living along River Road say last year they were battling the smell of trash from a neighboring landfill.

Now, they say they’re dealing with echoes of gunfire in their community.

“The American dream is that you can buy a home and be comfortable in your home, but I’m not comfortable in my home,” Sheryl Prince told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln.

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“We’re just afraid that things might escalate that things are coming in the subdivision, but we hear it constantly,” homeowner Gloria Walcott said.

One homeowner took to social media and wrote they heard around 100 gunshots Sunday night.

“That right there scared me really, really, bad. 100 shots and we don’t know where it came from, who was doing what, or if it was gang-related,” Walcott said.

Homeowners suspect some of the shots fired are coming from County Line Park.

“We don’t go to that park, that’s the park that you don’t go to,” Prince said.

Prince says people often use the park after hours.

“We saw some people over there doing some things that are very, very not good so we immediately got out of there, and we have not been there since,” Prince said.

Dekalb County provided Lincoln with data that reveals 23 calls about shots fired were made within a mile radius of County Line Park since January 2023.

And while the county says calls have been made, none have resulted in police reports.

The county says because of Channel 2′s phone calls, they are going to increase patrols in this area.

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“This has been my home for 25 years, I would love to feel just completely safe in it,” Walcott said.

The county says only two of the calls reported came from Old County Line Road, where the park is located.

DeKalb police say they’re willing to meet with residents to understand and address their concerns.

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