In response to Sunday's unauthorized party in Wade Walker Park, and the violence that occurred during the event, DeKalb County officials have organized two events where they hope to engage a broad range of community members.
The first event, scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Wade Walker Park YMCA, is a public safety meeting hosted by District 4 Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton. The commissioner said the meeting is designed to hear from community members and let them know where the investigation into the incident stands.
"We want to come up with a strategy to deter this from happening again," she said. "We also want to get feedback from the community, because as I started to research it I found out this wasn't the first time there has been such a party. It seems this was the first time there was a problem, though."
According to DeKalb police, two women were shot Sunday evening during a gathering of an estimated 1,500 people at the park. The women were taken to a local hospital, treated for their injuries and released, police said.
Authorities said news of the gathering spread on social media, which is how so many people ended up in the park. There was a DJ at the party and alcohol was served, but party organizers did not have the necessary permits for either service, according to authorities.
DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said today that no citations have been issued and no arrests have been made in connection with the party or the subsequent shooting.
Sutton said not only will DeKalb officials have to become more watchful of social media, but they will count on community members to alert them to potentially hazardous situations.
"We will have to work together on this," she said.
In the same spirit of working together, Karrianna Turner, manager of DeKalb's Office of Youth Services, said she hopes to hear from a number of youths at a teen summit, scheduled for May 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Porter Sanford III Performing Arts & Community Center. She said it is the first major event put on by the office, which is under the umbrella of parks and recreation.
"We want to be able to pull young people together, particularly teenagers, and have a candid discussion with them about social media and how violence is played out on social media," she said.
The event, which will include several local teens, V-103's Greg Street and other unnamed celebrity guests, is intended to be a safe space for teens to share their thoughts and feelings, Turner said.
"Part of the challenge has been that many (teens) feel like they are not being heard and that we're not listening to them," she said. "We want to change that."
Both events are free and open to the public.
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