Two men were shot Saturday after a fight broke out at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, the second shooting police have investigated at the hotel this month.
An argument came to blows in the bar area shortly before midnight, police said. An off-duty Atlanta officer working at the Peachtree Road hotel tried to break it up but was pushed aside when several bar patrons rushed an armed man and attempted to take his weapon from him.
Several rounds were fired, hitting one victim in the leg and the other several times in the back and stomach, according to a police report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The gunman is not being named because he was not charged.
In surveillance footage viewed by police, the victims were seen confronting the gunman about approaching women in their party. Three other women later told police they were harassed and touched inappropriately by the gunman, but they decided to leave the bar rather than seek help.
The off-duty officer tried to defuse the situation as the man pulled out a gun, according to the report.
“Without warning, a couple of the patrons rush (the gunman) and a fight ensues,” an investigating officer said in the report. “(The man) fire(d) off one round immediately. After the first round was fired, you can see approximately three to five individuals continue to rush towards (him) and begin punching him and attempting to take the weapon from him.”
The two shooting victims were stable when they were taken to a hospital, according to police. The gunman stayed on scene to speak with investigators and appeared “highly intoxicated.”
Police tried to take out arrest warrants against him for aggravated assault, but the warrants were denied by two different judges, the report said. He was released from detention at Grady Memorial Hospital and given a courtesy ride back to the hotel, where he retrieved his belongings and left.
Earlier this month, police investigated another shooting at the hotel involving R&B singer Ann Marie. She is accused of aggravated assault after her childhood friend was shot in the forehead Dec. 1 inside one of the rooms.
The singer, whose real name is Joann Marie Slater, was standing beside the bed and crying hysterically when police arrived, although officers noted in a report that Slater’s eyes were dry. She told police the gun went off after falling off a table.
Her friend, 24-year-old Jonathan Wright, was taken to Grady. Slater was released from jail last week on a $60,000 signature bond.
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