It started with a shooting outside of a motel on Fulton Industrial Boulevard. And it ended 15 miles later in a fiery crash that blocked the Downtown Connector for more than two hours Wednesday morning.
Both Atlanta and Fulton County police were investigating the strings of events, which left a 20-year-old man dead and another man seriously injured. Late Wednesday, police were searching for the suspected gunman, known only as “Little J.”
It began early Wednesday when a man was shout outside the Airway Motel, near I-20, according to Cpl. Partrena Smith with Fulton County police. A friend was attempting to drive the shooting victim, identified Wednesday afternoon as Reginald Bracey, to the hospital for treatment, Smith said.
Although Grady Memorial Hospital was the closest emergency room, the driver continued on the Downtown Connector, according to Atlanta police.
“He was not aware that he passed Grady Hospital, and was on his way to Piedmont Hospital,” Officer Kim Jones said.
But before the pair could make it to Piedmont, the car ran out of gas and stalling in the middle of I-75 northbound at Northside Drive, Jones said. A tractor-trailer driver stopped in the roadway behind the stalled vehicle and also tried to help. The driver put his hazard lights on.
“The driver of the tractor-trailer called 911 to report the incident to police and to get assistance for the gunshot victim,” Jones said.
While the tractor-trailer was stopped, a third vehicle ran into the back of it and ignited, police said. The driver of the third vehicle was pulled to safety, but suffered head injuries in the crash, police said.
Bracey was taken by ambulance to Grady, where he later died, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office. No information was available on his hometown.
Investigators were reviewing surveillance video from the motel for clues in the shooting, Smith said.
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