At least one woman has been injured in a shooting at the basketball courts located in Piedmont Park. The gunfire erupted just after 6 p.m., causing people to run for safety. As just reported, police say “one person of interest” has been detained.
The Atlanta police allege that the one victim “was just a bystander” described by the police as “collateral damage” to a dispute among people on the basketball court. One witness, FOX 5 reporter Rob DiRienzo, coincidentally was in the area when the incident occurred. He claimed he “saw people running for cover.”
Jason Farhadi, another witness, informed the police that he was near the basketball court because he was ” supposed to be playing tennis.” As he was walking, he heard some gunfire and noticed people running. Farhadi commented: “You just don’t expect this to happen, especially not up here.”
Officials disclosed the victim, a female, was taken away by ambulance, presumably to a hospital. The victim was reported to be “alert, conscious and breathing when EMS rendered aid at the park.” A doctor rushed to Piedmont Park to provide aid to the shooting victim.
Another witness, Dr. Adam Kalweriski, claimed he was ” playing basketball for the last hour, so, I saw people arguing.” As Kalweriski described, “There were a couple of hard fouls, but there wasn’t anything serious.” He elaborated, as quoted in news reporting: “Two people arguing, not involving anyone. I left 20 second, come down here, as soon as I left, I heard about five or six shots, and I came up.” Kalweriski told FOX 5 Atlanta that he noticed the injured woman was shot in her thumb. He did not notice any other injuries.
Kalweriski added details to the description of the event. He said the woman was a bystander watching the games, “and the guy that was being shot at he didn’t get shot himself.”
Kalweriski has been trained three years as an ER doctor at Grady Memorial Hospital. Regarding the victim, he opined that “She was lucky, I can tell you. I mean it was a graze wound. And the other guy was lucky.´ Perhaps Kalweriski was not so lucky. As reported, he had been at a shooting at Piedmont Park before. As of the time of this reporting, the identities of the shooter and the victim have not been released.