FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The mother of three killed in front of Palmetto Elementary School on Tuesday was delivering food there when she was shot.
Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with some of Eboni Anderson’s friends who say she did not have children who attended the school.
Her family said they are speechless at the loss and cannot believe it happened to such a wonderful mother.
Police said Christopher Ates fired shots outside the school Tuesday afternoon, killing Anderson. Her friends said she had been in a relationship with Ates.
He was taken into custody Tuesday evening in Houston County and is being transferred to face charges in Fulton.
A spokesperson for Fulton County Schools said the school went into a hard lockdown moments after because of their alert system. A
A staff member heard the shots hit the alert button, and it triggered the lockdown and notified police. Administrators were able to quickly coordinate with law enforcement to escort students to another school, where parents picked them up.
Margaret Smith, the grandmother of a child at Palmetto Elementary, said they weren’t sure what to think when her daughter got an email alert from the school.
“I didn’t think a shooter was inside the school, but I didn’t know what was going on,” she said.
Smith said her grandson was not traumatized by the shooting.
“He didn’t think nothing of it,” she said.
Counselors were at school for students and staff as classes resumed Wednesday.
A GoFundMe has been started to help pay for Anderson’s funeral.
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