Suspect in Atlanta food court shooting identified by police

CNN
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Authorities have identified the suspected shooter in Tuesday’s shooting at a downtown Atlanta food court as Jeremy Malone, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Malone, 34, is accused of wounding three people in a shooting at the Peachtree Center, a popular food court in downtown Atlanta.

The Morrow, Georgia, resident is a convicted felon who served prison time for armed robbery and has “11 prior arrest cycles,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said .

“This is an individual who should never have possessed a gun and an individual who should never have put this community in danger,” Schierbaum said.

Malone was shot by an Atlanta police officer in the food court before being taken into custody. He was transferred to a local hospital but has since been released.

He is currently incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail and faces several charges, including aggravated assault, reckless driving, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm or a knife when committing or attempting to commit certain crimes.

The victims, all three being treated in area hospitals, include a 47-year-old man, a 69-year-old woman and a 70-year-old woman. They are all expected to survive, authorities said.

Shortly before 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Malone entered the food court armed with a handgun and had a “brief altercation” with a person before shooting that person, the police chief said during a press conference, later specifying that the shooter had “physically attacked” the person. person before shooting him.

The suspect then shot two other people who were in the food court, Schierbaum said.

It is unclear how Malone may have been linked to the individual he first attacked.

Peachtree Center, in the heart of downtown, has more than 1.5 million square feet of office space in four buildings, as well as 50 restaurants and retail stores and three hotels, according to its website.

The building was placed on lockdown after the shooting, but had reopened by late Tuesday afternoon, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said. He had previously warned residents to “avoid the area”.

A little more than two hours after the shooting, another man in Atlanta held a commuter bus driver at gunpoint, leading police on a rush-hour chase as more than about a dozen passengers remained in the vehicle, police said.

The suspect in that case was taken into custody and a person found shot on the bus died, police said.

Authorities said they do not believe the two incidents are related.

Malone waived his initial court appearance, Natalie Ammons, a Fulton County sheriff’s spokeswoman, told CNN. It is unclear whether he has legal representation at this time.

CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji contributed to this report.