Atlanta, Brookhaven police respond to at least 9 shootings over last 24 hours

BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — Brookhaven police are investigating a triple shooting they believe took place in or near the parking lot of a local lounge.

Police say they had units patrolling in the area that heard gunshots near the parking lot of Josephine’s Lounge off Buford Highway around 3:45 a.m. Saturday morning.

Channel 2′s Christian Jennings said she could see shattered glass and an SUV with bullet holes still in the parking lot when she arrived there this morning.

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Officers found two people with gunshot wounds near the scene and a third person showed up at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Brookhaven police said the victims were from out of town and investigators believe they were bystanders.

Brookhaven Police Sgt. Carlos Nino did not want to speculate if any of them were in town for this weekend’s NBA All Star Weekend.

“We have no way of determining if they were in town specifically for NBA All Star game. We can only speculate,” said Nino.

Nino says right now, police don’t have a description of a suspect and are hoping some witnesses can forward with information.

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Brookhaven police wasn’t the only department that has had their hands full in the past 24 hours. Atlanta police responded to at least eight shootings from 11 p.m. Friday night to 11 p.m. Saturday night.

One of the shootings happened outside Bulldogs, a popular bar in midtown Atlanta. Investigators said a group of suspected car burglars shot a parking lot attendant after he tried to stop them.

Atlanta police responded to another shooting that injured a man off Cheshire Bridge Road and believe that victim also was confronting men he thought were breaking into his car.

Around 2:40 a.m., officers found a man shot in the leg and another grazed by a bullet. Police believe the shooting was the result of a dispute from a minor traffic accident that occurred moments earlier. The suspect left the scene in a white Audi.

Two hours later, police responded to a shooting in the 800 block of Peachtree Street. Police believe this was a domestic incident.

Atlanta police later responded to three more shootings Saturday afternoon and evening.

At 2:30 p.m., a man was shot off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in southwest Atlanta. The man told police someone fired shots from inside a car. At 3:50 p.m. off West Peachtree Street, police found a man shot in the leg and detained a man at the scene.

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Brookhaven extends serving hours to 4 a.m. for NBA All-Star weekend Many are concerned that it's too soon with the COVID-19 pandemic still going on.