Shots were fired at a north DeKalb County apartment complex Friday morning when a man confronted three people he saw breaking into residents’ cars, police said.
The man told DeKalb police he saw the trio entering multiple vehicles parked in front of the Creekside Apartments on Pleasantdale Road as he was coming home around 2:20 a.m. He yelled at them, and they ran off, according to a police report obtained by AJC.com.
When he heard an engine crank up at the other end of the complex, the resident positioned his own car to keep the vehicle from leaving.
The vehicle, a Nissan Altima reported stolen out of Gwinnett County, rammed his car head-on, forcing it backward, he told police. Three people bailed out of the Nissan, and one began shooting at the man’s car as they ran away.
“Fearing his life was in danger, the (resident) exited his vehicle and returned fire,” police said in the report.
The bullets missed the man as he took cover behind the now-abandoned Nissan, but the sedan kept rolling and knocked him down. He told officers at the scene his right leg was injured but did not need medical attention.
One of the suspects, 17-year-old Christopher Williams, wasn’t so fortunate. Officers found the Atlanta teenager as he was walking away from the complex down Pleasantdale Road. He had been shot twice, in the leg and in the lower back, and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Another suspect, 18-year-old Terrell Xavier Harris of Atlanta, was also apprehended. The third is still at large.
Williams and Harris both face charges of aggravated assault with a gun and with a vehicle, theft by receiving stolen property, hit-and-run, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, and other weapons charges. According to police, the gun used in the shooting was reported stolen out of Atlanta.
No charges were filed against the resident.
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