Police: Men brought ‘bag of bullets’ to shootout with alleged gang members

Mario Burke (bottom left) and Sidiamond Stills were arrested after a shooting that led the driver of a Ford Explorer to crash into a house March 9. (Credit: Atlanta Police Department)

Mario Burke (bottom left) and Sidiamond Stills were arrested after a shooting that led the driver of a Ford Explorer to crash into a house March 9. (Credit: Atlanta Police Department)

Two 21-year-old men brought 40-caliber handguns and a “Wal-Mart bag of bullets” to an alleged gang fight that left their driver critically injured, Atlanta police said.

Traekwuan Steele, 20, drove Sidiamond Stills and Mario Burke to the area of 677 North Avenue on March 9, according to a police report obtained Monday.

Stills and Burke got out, guns and a bag of bullets in hand, and started the fight with a group of men. That led to Steele being shot, officers wrote in the report.

Traekwuan Steele mug shot from 2014 (Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office)

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After Steele was shot twice in the back, he crashed a 1999 Ford Explorer into a house on Somerset Terrace, the report stated.

Stills told police he thought a man named “Raymond” might be a “Bluff gang member” because, after the fight started, a group of men tried “to jump” Stills.

Burke and Stills went to check on Steele after the shooting, police said. They were detained as they tried to hide their guns, police said, and later arrested.

Stills was in the Fulton County jail Monday on a charge of aggravated assault. His bond is set at $25,000, according to jail records.

Mario Burke was released from jail March 12. His bonds totaled $26,000 for charges of carrying a weapon without a license and aggravated assault.

Steele was recovering from his injuries at Grady Memorial Hospital. Police said he could end up paralyzed because the bullets may have traveled through his spine.

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