Police say a fatal shooting at Dunwoody’s The Pointe at Perimeter apartments wasn’t random. Neighbors who heard the shots said the crime probably wasn’t hard to pull off either.
The reason: For months, management has left the complex’s iron front gates wide open. In the weeks leading up to Monday’s killing of a resident, at least one apartment tenant, concerned about a recent burglary, said he went to the leasing office and asked that the electronic access gates off Ashford Dunwoody Road be put back in operation.
“I just honestly feel like, if the gates had been closed [the shooter] might not have been able to get in,” resident Shanice Mosley, 23, said. “Or at least someone might have been able to grab the license plate.”
An on-site manager, who wouldn’t give her name, said the gates have been broken since someone rammed one of them with a vehicle. Pointe at Perimeter is in the process of having them fixed by a contractor, she said.
The manager said the open gates weren’t a factor in the killing because, even if they worked, the gates would have been left open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“We’re going to look at it again and see if that’s something we should reassess,” she said.
According to Dunwoody police Sgt. Mike Carlson, resident Ivan Perez, 32, was shot around 3:45 p.m. Monday by a man last seen fleeing toward Ashford Dunwoody Road.
Residents said Perez was shot walking up a stairwell in building 8. He was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital, Carlson said.
Relatives told Channel 2 Action News that Perez, a father of two who lives in another area of the complex, was heading to his cousin’s apartment to borrow a car to take a family member to the airport. Witnesses said the shooter opened fire, and then jumped in a car and sped away.
Carlson said in an email that the open gates “have nothing to do with it.” He did not elaborate.
Residents, however, said the open gates have been an open invitation to crime. Krishna Polineni, 39, said the gates have been out of service six to eight months.
Polineni said several weeks ago he went to the leasing office and complained after finding a note from management reporting a recent burglary and advising residents to lock doors and report suspicious activity. Employees told him they were waiting for a quote from a contractor.
“Just putting a note on the door doesn’t solve the problem,” Polineni said. “I think it’s purely the management’s ignorance, not having those gates closed or making it operational.”
Asked if residents have complained about the gates, the Pointe at Perimeter manager wouldn’t answer. She also declined to discuss other recent crimes.
Carlson said during the past year the apartment complex has had at least one car break-in and one burglary.
Several residents, shocked by the brutal killing in an area of metro Atlanta not known for violent crime, said it has left them on edge.
“Thank God there wasn’t kids playing outside at the time,” Mosley said.
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