A woman was attempting to protect a 6-month-old baby when both were hit by a spray of bullets in southeast Atlanta Sunday night, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The baby’s great-grandmother told the news station that the woman was running away from the gunfire in the 600 block of New Town Circle, holding the baby girl, when both were shot.
The baby was grazed by a bullet just below her back and is being treated at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta at Egleston. The woman is being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital for a bullet wound to her hip.
Both are in stable condition.
Police officers responding to the shooting about 9:30 p.m. Sunday found more than 20 rounds, Channel 2 reported. Witnesses said there were children outside a nearby apartment complex when someone started firing.
“That’s heartless,” Joya Poole, the baby’s great-grandmother, told Channel 2. “There’s a good 20 to 30 kids in that breezeway every day, especially now that it’s summertime.”
The baby was alert and conscious when officers arrived, police told the news station.
Investigators are now working to learn what prompted the violence. Atlanta police Maj. Celeste Murphy called the shooting “extremely cowardly.”
“It’s bad enough that unintended victims get shot, but for a child to get shot is really egregious,” Murphy told Channel 2. “It’s just unconscionable.”
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