SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Sandy Springs police said Friday it's too early to tell whether the shooting death of a man near Northside Hospital was random or targeted.
Investigators said 19-year-old Melvin Vernell III was shot "five to six times" through the rear window of his 2012 Audi A-7 as he sat on a second-floor parking deck across the street from the hospital's women's center.
"What we're trying to determine, obviously, was the motive," Sandy Springs police Capt. Steve Rose told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik. "We don't know if it was something that was set up or something that happened spontaneously."
Northside Hospital officials said Vernell wasn't affiliated with or visiting the hospital. Police stopped short of sharing their beliefs about why he was there.
The shooting forced the hospital to shut down for more than an hour as police canvassed the area on Johnson Ferry Road for the shooters.
"It was chaotic on this side right here," said hospital visitor Marshall Cooper. "I saw a lot of commotion, a lot of cop cars."
Police said surveillance cameras were installed in the garage, and officers were sifting through footage to see if it showed the crime or anyone running from the scene.
"It's scary that someone could just walk into a parking lot and shoot someone and get away with it," said visitor Ashutosh Kamalakar, whose wife was at the hospital recovering from surgery.
Petchenik has learned that Vernell was an up-and-coming rapper who went by "Lil' Phat." Fans took to Twitter and Facebook to pay their respects and tribute to the Louisiana native.
Police said they were looking into Vernell's record company ties and history for possible clues.
A recent Rolling Stone article chronicled how another member of Vernell's Trill Records, Lil' Boosie, whose real name is Torrence Hatch, was recently acquitted of hiring a hitman to kill someone in Louisiana.
Another article Petchenik found on a hip-hop web site described how Vernell's father, Melvin Vernell, Jr., beat an attempted murder charge two years ago. Sandy Springs police said the younger Vernell was arrested there in April 2012 for possessing a stolen vehicle.
"Everything about family members and any connection with any prior arrests will be taken into a specific kind of investigation," said Rose.
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