Atlanta

Police: Robbers lured delivery driver to vacant house before shootout

ATLANTA — Police are searching for a man and two women they said lured a delivery driver to a vacant house and shot him.

Atlanta police said they responded to a call of shots fired in the area of Wisteria Way and Mellrich Avenue in northeast Atlanta late Tuesday night.

When officers arrived, they found a man shot.

The victim stated he was a delivery driver and he received an order to a vacant house on the corner.

Police said the driver told them that when he pulled up to the house to make the delivery, two women confronted him and two men pulled out guns.

“Investigators said they called for a delivery order and tried to ambush the driver when he showed up with the food,” Brian Schiffbauer with the Atlanta Police Department said.

The driver also had a gun.


TRENDING STORIES:


Gunfire was exchanged. The victim was shot in the back but he was able to return fire at the suspects, police said.

Investigators said the suspects ran, but they found one man hiding out.

He had been shot in the leg and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, as was the delivery driver.

Both were in surgery overnight and their conditions are unknown.

Channel 2’s Darryn Moore was there as crime scene technicians collected a bag of evidence and police towed the victim's SUV overnight.

Investigators said they found nearly a dozen bullet casings and a gun on the ground.

Channel 2’s Audrey Washington spoke with a local business owner who works next door to the Chinese restaurant.

She said she knows the delivery man and says she is shocked.

“He’s a very nice guy. Sometimes they come in and stick their head in just to say hi. I really am shocked that someone decided to hurt an innocent person,” Tiffany Griffin said.