4 charged in child’s shooting at DeKalb apartment

Four adults have been charged in connection with a child’s shooting at a north DeKalb County apartment complex, police said Tuesday.

Leo Laster, 28, Christopher Koen, 33, and Brandon Palmer, 21, were each charged with aggravated assault and Chimeska Jackson, 35, was charged with obstruction after a 6-year-old was shot in the leg as she walked home from the school bus Monday afternoon, according to police.

The child, whose name was not released, and her mother heard gunshots as the two walked on Meadowglen Village Lane, near Doraville, about 3 p.m. Monday, DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said. When the two got into their apartment, the mother realized the child had been shot in the leg, Parish said.

The child was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Parish said.

Officers were called to the area on a report of shots fired and found several shell casings in the area. A gunshot also went through the window of a vacant apartment, but no other injuries were reported.

Monday’s shooting was the second in two days involving children hit by stray bullets.

Sunday night, a 5-year-old girl was shot inside her Highland East Atlanta apartment, near Flat Shoals Road. She is also expected to survive her injuries, according to police.