DeKalb police are looking for two men suspected in the shooting of a 40-year-old man Monday afternoon across the road from a middle school.

The man who was shot was in a park across the road from Salem Middle School near Lithonia, Capt. Steve Fore said. He then walked to the school for help and was assisted by a resource officer, Fore said.

The school, which has 1,056 students, immediately went into lockdown, said Quinn Hudson, spokesman for DeKalb schools. All students were able to leave campus at 4 p.m. on schedule, Hudson said.

The man was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital with a non-life-threatening wound in the abdomen, Fore said. The two men reportedly fled in a silver or gray Mercedes.

“We have not been able to determine a motive,” Fore said.

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Mathew Palmer, a former Delta Air Lines employee, at his home in Atlanta on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025.  Palmer was fired less than two weeks after writing a post on social media about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Natrice Miller/AJC)