ATLANTA — Atlanta Police Department is investigating after shots rang out during a music video shoot Tuesday afternoon. The shooting took place in the northwest part of the city while rapper Lil Baby was close by.
Residents said they were excited to see the Grammy award-winning rapper, but that excitement quickly turned to fear., when they said a drive-by shooting occurred.
“The stuff that happened is too much,” said a Dixie Hills resident who did not want to disclose her identity. The incident occurred around 5 p.m. on Verbena Street.
“We just heard pow pow pow...We grabbed the kids, and it was just a whole bunch of chaos,” added the resident.
The whole incident left three people shot, according to Atlanta Police. Officials said one person was hit in the arm, another in the neck and the third in the back. And while all are expected to survive, police said the shooting may be part of the bigger problem of gang activity.
“Several of the individuals in the city that are involved in some of these hybrid rap performance groups are involved in certain conflicts throughout the city, so us as the city of Atlanta, we want to be proactive in making sure our gang unit is on the scene, and at the on front of any potential matters that can escalate out of a shooting of this nature,” Major Raphael Woolfolk with APD explained
Woolfolk added that children and other bystanders were around the set of the music video when the about 30 shots rang out. As police try to piece together who is responsible and what led up to the shooting, neighbors we spoke to said the violence is getting out of hand.
“It’s ridiculous that you can’t come outside and have a good time and show some love in the neighborhood because people always want to argue and fight and shoot and kill...that’s a problem. We need to take these guns off the street; that’s the biggest problem,” added the resident.
APD says its investigation is still underway, but anyone with information that can help is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 404 577-Tips.