A man found dead early Friday inside a burned condo near Clarkston was shot multiple times, according to DeKalb County Public Safety Director Cedric Alexander.
“This is a horrific incident,” he said at a news conference hours after the predawn fire and shooting. “We are certain this is arson.”
About 2:30 a.m., DeKalb police officers and firefighters responded to simultaneous calls about a fire and a shooting at a Brannon Hills Road condominium complex off Memorial Drive.
DeKalb fire Capt. Eric Jackson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that firefighters arrived to find the building more than 70 percent involved in flames.
“We literally had fire burning from one end of the building to the other,” Jackson said. “The police were already here, so we came on in to do battle with this two-alarm fire.”
A pregnant woman suffered a broken leg when she jumped from a second-story condo, he said. Another man was found shot, but alive, in the same unit. The woman and the man are being treated at an area hospital for their injuries, Jackson said.
Twenty-two people were displaced because eight units burned, Alexander said.
Homicide detectives were working with fire investigators and federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, he said.
Alexander said it was too early to determine the motive. “We’re just continuing the investigation,” he said. “We don’t want to compromise any part of the investigation.”
The names of the victims were not released.
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