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ATLANTA (AP) — Statements from law enforcement officials and a Kentucky-based rapper are shedding more light on what led to a shooting that caused chaos outside one of Atlanta’s largest malls last week.
The man shot by police on Saturday after refusing to drop his gun may have been trying to stop a robbery.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said an Atlanta Police officer responded to Lenox Square Mall at approximately 8:15 p.m. Saturday. The officer found Christian Edlin and another person not identified by name in a parking deck with “firearms pointed” at Antonio Williams, according to a statement from the bureau.
Police said the suspect refused to drop his gun.
The officer fired his gun and struck Edlin, the statement says, who was transported to a local hospital in serious but stable condition.
Rapper 2KBABY from Louisville, Kentucky, says that he was with Edlin at the time, and Edlin was trying to stop a man who had robbed them.
"He was a victim of someone that asked to take a picture with him and then snatched his chain and they chased him," the rapper’s manager said in a statement to WXIA-TV. "And when they got to him, asking for it back a cop came outside and just shot hitting his friend,” the statement says.
No officers were injured during the incident.
Edlin, a 21-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, was charged with aggravated assault and carrying a pistol without a license, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's statement. Williams, a 23-year-old from Flint Michigan, was charged with robbery by snatching and giving a false name.
Social media footage showed terrified shoppers scrambling for cover inside the mall.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says they are continuing to investigate.
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