Gunfire reported near Grady High School

Editor's note: The following information was posted on Feb. 10, 2013 by the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance (MPSA) on its website and appears here courtesy of the MPSA. The MPSA has served the Midtown community since 2003 as a non-profit organization by coordinating neighborhood response to public safety and security issues in order to advance the Midtown way of life. The MPSA achieves this objective primarily by operating a neighborhood security patrol funded by its resident and business members, and community sponsors. See here for more information about becoming a member of the MPSA. The MPSA coverage area includes:

• From Juniper Street to the defunct railroad track just east of Monroe Drive and Home Depot
• From Ponce de Leon Avenue to 10th Street.
• Highlighted in green on the map
• All of Kennesaw Avenue, Penn Avenue, Myrtle Street, are in the service area, along with Glen Iris Drive down to but not including North Avenue

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Last Tuesday and Wednesday several emails circulated around the neighborhood regarding gunfire at Grady. We requested official information from our police contacts, and received these police reports (we have not had a chance to process and summarize it and wanted to expedite getting the information out to the neighborhood):

On 2/5/13 at 9:57 p.m. I. SPO Bunyan and Ofc. Zemaitis responded to a call at Charles Allen Drive and 10th Street. There we met SW who reported someone was shooting inside the park. According to S, she had just walked out of the Grady High School premises at 929 Charles Allen Drive when she observed a black male standing on the opposite side of the school entrance inside the park. S said she heard several gun shoots and saw the black male pointing his hand in the air. At the end of his hand she saw fire which made her realize that he was actually firing a pistol. S described the suspect as a short black male wearing a gray pants, black jacket and a black skull cap. She was unable to give the suspect direction of travel as she was hiding behind a car for safety.

Narrative added to police report on Wednesday: 

February 6 2013 at approximately 2000 hours: On Wednesday, February 6 2013 at approximately 1810 hours I Officer A Doan responded to 587 Virginia avenue in reference to a bullet that was found lodged in the wall at the location. Upon my arrival I was met by the victim Mr.T. Mr. T stated that he had arrived at the location on Tuesday, February 5 2013 at approximately 2200 hours. Mr. T stated that he had then went to bed and got up and left the location on Wednesday, February 6 2013 at approximately 0820 hours and did not notice anything unusual. Mr. T stated that it was when he returned home at approximately 1430 hours, he noticed a hole in the north facing exterior wall of his apartment and then a hole through an adjacent wall.

Mr. T stated that he then followed the direction of the projectile to the front door, which was scarred and then the south interior wall, where he then found the projectile lodged inside this was wall near the front door. I did observe the entry hole of the location and subsequent holes to where the projectile was lodged. I was also advised by SPO Bunyun, that on the previous night at approximately 2145 hours, he had worked a shots fired call in the area of 10th street and Monroe drive. I notified Sgt Lester, Unit #3593 and Zone 5 CID Investigator Wareham, Unit #5532 of the incident. ID Tech A. Johnson, Unit #7330 also responded to the scene and processed the scene by taking photographs of the damage as well as the projectile. I then retrieved the projectile from the wall and placed it into property as evidence as well as a written victim statement from Mr. T.

Related Email circulating around the neighborhood: 

I was wondering if anyone was aware of or heard multiple gunshots fired in the vicinity of Grady High School last evening. My husband and I heard the gunshots at approximately 9:45 pm but initially thought they might have been fire crackers (a bit of shock I suppose). We then observed police vehicles respond to the area. As a school bus and other vehicles left the Grady parking lot near the stadium, we observed a team of people – including officers- with flashlights checking the grassy field in Piedmont Park next to 10th Street, directly across from the street entrance to the rear Grady stadium parking lot; it appeared as if they were looking for shell casings.

We live in a residential building next to Woody’s. We discovered today that Atlanta Police and the APD Crime Scene Unit have been in our building. Apparently, a bullet entered the exterior wall of a 3rd floor unit and ricocheted through the unit. Luckily, no one was home at the time and there were no injuries.

We do not have further details at this time and are uncertain whether the incident involved the event at Grady High School.