In a little more than 24 hours, police in metro Atlanta were sent to three fast-food restaurants to investigate shootings near each one.
The rash of unrelated shootings left two people dead and one critically injured, according to police. While authorities have shared little information about a fatal shooting at a Stone Mountain Popeyes, Atlanta police said arguments led to both shootings near fast-food restaurants in town.
In DeKalb County, officers were called to the Popeyes at 4815 Redan Road after getting reports of a person shot just after 5:30 p.m. Monday, police spokeswoman Officer Elise Wells said. At the scene, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound.
Wells said the man was stable when he was taken to a hospital but later died. His identity has not been released.
Police did not share any other details about the DeKalb incident. It is not clear if another person was involved or if anyone has been taken into custody.
Just six hours later, Atlanta police were called to the parking lot of another Popeyes, this time on Cascade Avenue in southwest Atlanta. The fast-food restaurant shares its lot with a Kroger shopping center.
There, they found a 43-year-old man with a gunshot wound, according to a news release. The man told police he was in an argument with another person at a Circle K gas station on Donnelly Avenue across the street.
The victim said the fight became physical but was broken up. However, another group of men picked another fight, and that is when he was shot, the release states.
The man was taken to a hospital and was described by police as stable.
The Monday shootings come on the heels of another shocking episode of gun violence at a fast-food restaurant in the metro area. On Sunday evening, a man allegedly opened fire at a Subway location near downtown Atlanta after an argument with two employees about the amount of mayonnaise on his sandwich. The shooting left one woman dead and a second in critical condition.
The 36-year-old suspect was arrested a few hours later not far from the Subway where the shooting took place, according to Atlanta police. The man has not been publicly identified as police continue to investigate the case.
Atlanta’s interim police chief Darin Schierbaum expressed frustration over the number of arguments that have escalated into gunfire this year. The Subway shooting marks the city of Atlanta’s 82nd homicide case so far in 2022, well outstripping the previous year’s pace. Police investigated 160 homicides in 2021, the highest total since 1996.
“We need individuals to talk out their disputes, walk away and do not pick up guns,” Schierbaum said Sunday. “We can take down drug operations that breed violent crime, we can dismantle gang organizations that breed violent crime, we can stop robbery crews that breed violent crime. We cannot stop someone who is mad because there is too much mayonnaise on their sandwich.”
