LILBURN, Ga. — An 18-year-old is in a medically induced coma after police say a dispute over a sneaker sale ended with him being shot in the face at a Lilburn park.
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Lilburn police say the shooting happened just after 9 p.m. Wednesday at Bryson Park off Lawrenceville Highway, near the children’s playground.
Three 16-year-olds are under arrest. Investigators say all three will be charged as adults.
The victim sells shoes on Instagram, according to police.
“He’s a ‘sneakerhead’ and sells shoes and designer-type shoes,” said Capt. Scott Bennett of the Lilburn Police Department.
Bennett said a pair the buyer ordered went to the wrong address. The victim tried to fix it.
“Even though the victim tried to make the situation right, it resulted in a lot of chatter back and forth online and threatening messages via social media,” Bennett said.
The two agreed to meet at the park. The 18-year-old parked and waited.
“He was sitting in his car waiting,” Bennett said. “He knew the suspect was coming.”
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Witnesses told officers the suspect arrived in a white van with two other teenagers. One got out and fired through the driver’s window while the victim sat behind the wheel.
“He never expect(ed) the guy in the van is going to come out with a gun,” a witness told an officer in bodycam video. “I was so scared, I just kept running.”
The victim was flown to Grady Memorial Hospital. Bennett said the teenager remains in a medically induced coma but was doing better as of Friday morning.
Detectives traced the messages on the victim’s phone to Instagram accounts belonging to all three suspects. Officers arrested them by Thursday afternoon.
Bennett, who has worked these cases for years, said the pattern keeps repeating.
“Instead of disputes being settled the way they used to be, now they’re settled with guns,” he said.
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