Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Atlanta, was meeting a friend for lunch at Pasta da Pulcinella next door to where the shootings happened when he heard other diners talking about it. As of Wednesday afternoon, he was still taking shelter in the restaurant with what he estimated were between 20 and 30 other customers and employees.
“The police presence is lightening a little bit,” said McLaurin, an attorney. “I am looking outside and I see tactical weapons. People in a lot of gear walking on the sidewalk. Helmets. That sort of thing. It’s still a pretty active operation, it seems like. Lots of law enforcement in the area. Obviously, earlier there were a lot more.”
McLaurin has also been tweeting about the shootings, at one point declaring: “We don’t have to live like this.”
“There are thousands of people right here on this street and high-rise residences and offices, restaurants. All of that,” he said. “So it has put Midtown on pause this afternoon and introduced a lot of uncertainty and fear in people’s day.”
He added: “I don’t think that most Americans or Georgians believe that we should have to live like this and that this should be a normal feature of our everyday lives.”
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