Authorities are reviewing security video to find two people who shot a woman in the stomach as she, her child and boyfriend were leaving Lenox Square Wednesday evening, according to Channel 2 Action News.
The 23-year-old woman, who was at Grady Memorial Hospital early Thursday, was visiting Atlanta from South Carolina when she was shot, police said.
She was with her boyfriend and their 2-year-old son, touring the mall and window shopping.
Investigators told Channel 2 that as the family made their way to their car, they realized two men were right behind them.
“The couple immediately got in the car [and] put their baby in the car,” Atlanta police Sgt. Warren Pickard said. “One of the suspects climbed inside of the back seat and produced a weapon.”
Police said the other person played lookout while the gunman inside the car demanded money and jewelry just purchased at Forever Diamonds.
The couple told the man they didn’t buy anything, police said. That’s when he reached over, shot the young mother in the stomach and made a run for it.
The woman tried to drive herself to the hospital but pulled over at a Benihana’s restaurant on Peachtree Road.
Carson Anderson said he had just pulled up to Benihana to grab a bite to eat when he realized the parking lot of the restaurant was roped off with crime scene tape.
“The young woman who was injured was still in the car obviously, in a great amount distress,” he told Channel 2. “It looked to me like she was fighting for her life.”
Seconds later, he said, medics rushed to pull the woman out of an Audi. Anderson said she was covered in blood from an apparent gunshot wound.
“The paramedics moved very quickly to get her out of the vehicle,” Anderson said.
Investigators hope surveillance video cameras surrounding the mall will give them a clue to finding the two men accused in the shooting.
“I can say we already have it on camera,” Pickard said.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.
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