Local

Good Samaritans step in to help homeless man shot 3 times

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga — New developments have surfaced on the condition of a homeless man who was shot and released from the hospital just hours later.

After seeing the story earlier in the week, good Samaritans and community groups have stepped forward to help.

South Korean immigrant Chun Park, 58, was shot in the head and back earlier this week.

Park said he was living in a camp off Interstate 75 in Forest Park. He said a man shot him and a friend when they would not hand over money they had collected panhandling.

“Scary, oh God,” Park said.

Park said a hospital released him just a few hours after treating his wounds. Earlier in the week, a Channel 2 Action News photographer saw Park wandering down the street with no shoes and wearing only a hospital gown.

“He say, ‘You OK?’ I say, ‘I’m not OK.’ I say, ‘Help me please,’” Park said.

And he did. A viewer, Heather Harp, saw Channel 2's story and reached out on her Facebook page asking for volunteers to find and help Park.

“He was under a bridge and his wounds were weeping. He was in a lot of pain,” Steve Zinn said.

Zinn's outreach group and Harp’s Facebook volunteers raised enough to pay for Park’s prescriptions, food, and a few days in a motel room.

Harp is an EMT and told Channel 2’s Diana Davis, she’s been lending a hand to the homeless since early this year.

“I’ve been on hard times myself and sometimes we all need a hand. Sometimes we all need uplifting. We all need someone to care about us,” she said. “Everybody has a story and whatever took them down the path they were on to get them where they were at, it’s not for me to judge.”

Park’s recovery will take weeks. The money for those few days in a motel has grown to enough for about six weeks. Now other groups are stepping in, hoping to give Park a new start.