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Visitors bureau: Isolated incident
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Operators of downtown Atlanta’s hotels and attractions put extra security personnel and procedures in place after Friday morning’s shootings at the Fulton County courthouse.
“We understand, as an industry, that we entertain millions of people a year, and the perception of danger in a city is a perception that might hurt the city,” said Bill Howard, spokesman for the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. “There are many visitors in town for the SEC [basketball] championships this weekend. We need to make sure people remain safe and are able to move around the city. And we don’t want them to feel like there’s a lockdown going on.”
For the most part, visitors don’t seem to be judging Atlanta harshly for this one violent event, Howard said. He hopes other potential visitors, many of whom likely watched reports of the shooting on national news networks, will be similarly understanding.
“This was a random act by a person who is pretty desperate,” Howard said.
“People understand that unfortunately, those things can occur and can occur anywhere. I don’t think they’ll judge Atlanta particularly harshly.”
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