ATLANTA — Gunfire scattered a crowd of mourners gathered outside a DeKalb County, Georgia, apartment complex Sunday night to remember an 18-year-old killed Friday in a shooting.
When the bullets stopped, a 17-year-old boy was dead, according to DeKalb police. Two other boys, a 16-year-old and 11-year-old, were injured.
They were attending a candlelight vigil at the Highlands at East Atlanta complex on Flat Shoals Road when the shooting broke out at about 6:20 p.m., police spokesman Lt. Shane Smith said in a statement. Responding officers found the 17-year-old and 16-year-old victims at the scene, but the 11-year-old went to a nearby Walmart in Gresham Road for help, Smith said.
The name of the slain teen was not released. The other two victims were stable when they were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds to their hands, according to police.
The vigil was being held in remembrance of Taneaious McCune, who was killed Friday when police said he and three others attempted to break into a Gresham Road home and a resident fought back. Investigators have deemed the shooting justified and have charged three alleged accomplices with felony murder in his death.
The three home invasion suspects were also wounded Friday. Jacqueze Grier, 23, and a 15-year-old boy were taken to hospitals with serious injuries, according to police, and another man, identified as 30-year-old Telvin Thomas, arrived at a hospital and was later linked to the break-in. At least one was in critical condition.
Thomas has since been booked into the DeKalb County jail. According to police, both he and Grier are facing additional charges. The Gresham Road home’s resident was not expected to be charged.
Police have not publicly identified the suspect in Sunday night’s deadly shooting or said how the three teenage victims are connected to McCune. According to witnesses, the gunman walked up to the 17-year-old victim and opened fire before running away on foot.
____
