Small metro Atlanta community plagued by explosion of gun violence

LAGRANGE, Ga. — People in a small metro area city said they are dealing with gun violence they usually see in big cities like Atlanta.

Channel 2′s Tom Jones was in LaGrange Monday, where police are investigating incidents of three people getting shot over the weekend.

Jones talked to residents who said the gun violence has gotten out of hand.

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Michell Dozier was hit by a stray bullet in her own home after someone shot up another home and wounded another man. Dozier said she heard shots Sunday night and immediately went to protect her 74-year-old mother.

“I said, ‘Get away from the window! Get away!’” Dozier said. “And I got her like this and I helped her in the wheelchair.”

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Dozier was so protective of her mother, she had no idea that she had been shot.

LaGrange police said the shooter was targeting a house next door on East Render Street, where a 20-year-old man was injured.

Officers are also investigating the shooting death of a 20-year-old man at the Wood Glen apartments Saturday.

Rowena Brown heard the shots and couldn’t believe the incident unfolded in the middle of the day.

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“To see that child laying down there like that,” Brown said. “They were trying to work on him, but he didn’t make it.”

Brown said she’d seen crime like that in Atlanta, but not in LaGrange.

Police said they’ve approved overtime for officers to help tackle the problem.

Lt. Christopher Pritchett with the LaGrange Police Department said people can expect to see an increase in blue lights and police activity.

Dozier welcomes anything that will keep her and her mother safe.

“I don’t care what they doing, they need to stop it,” Dozier said. “You got people in the neighborhood innocent.”

LaGrange police said they usually average about four or five murders a year, but this year, they’re up to about nine. They said they are studying where the violence is happening and putting more manpower there.

‘Targeted’ shooting leaves 3 dead in Atlanta’s West End, police say Three people are dead after a shootout in the middle of a busy street. It happened just after lunch in the heart of Atlanta’s West End community.

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