8-year-old girl recovering after being shot in leg in NW Atlanta
An 8-year-old girl is recovering after being shot in the leg Wednesday in the 1400 block of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard.
Atlanta police told Channel 2 Action News a man driving a blue Toyota sedan opened fire on a crowd and shot the child, who was playing outside with her cousins and friends, about 8 p.m.
The gunman, who authorities believe was targeting a woman who borrowed his car, pulled the trigger twice.
The child, Jimaya Poythress, screamed in pain and dropped to the ground as the shooter hit the gas, Channel 2 reported.
“He actually looked straight at us,” Loreal Poythress, the child’s mother, told the news station. “And he just started shooting.”
The child was alert, conscious and breathing when she was taken to Children’s Hospital of Atlanta at Egleston. She later had surgery to remove the bullet from her leg, Channel 2 reported.
Police said they interviewed the woman allegedly targeted and she gave them the gunman’s name.
“To me, he's a coward,” Loreal Poythress said.
Officers have not released the man’s identity.
The shooting was one of three involving juveniles in the metro Atlanta area Wednesday.
Cherokee County officials were investigating a shooting that injured a 16-year-old. The teen was found shot inside his home by his mom. He remains in stable condition.
A boy from Winder was flown to a hospital with a gunshot wound and later died, Barrow County authorities said.
The boys’ identities have not been released.
