AUSTELL, Ga. — The Austell community is still reeling after a Monday triple shooting at the Premier Apartments killed two people and left one hospitalized.
Lena Wolfe and Jeremy Davis were both fatally shot.
Lester Piercefield was arrested Tuesday night and charged with two counts of murder and three counts of aggravated assault in connection to their deaths.
Monica Delancy, who runs the We Thrive Resource Center and heads up the Riverside Renters Association, has lived nearby for 15 years and said the violent crime has never been this bad.
"Kids are without their mother, and that’s a big loss, a huge loss,” she said.
"To wake up and three people are harmed by gun violence...it made me feel like all the work we’re doing in the community is in vain,” Delancy added.
In the wake of the shooting, the community held a donation drive for Wolfe’s children and a vigil at a nearby apartment complex, but, according to Cobb Police, during the vigil, they got a call that a man was hit and someone pulled a gun.
Delancy called that "very disheartening."
"Just so many emotions,” she said.
But now, even with an arrest made in Monday’s shooting, neighbors told 11Alive they don't feel safe. Delancy had a call-to-action for them.
"We need those people who say they don’t feel safe to be involved and let us know how we can help them,” she implored.
Delancy said that’s the only way to move beyond the violence -- for everyone to come together to find real solutions.
"Making sure our schools are involved, parents are involved, and make sure they have hope for success -- not just surviving but thriving,” she said.
Delancy hopes the whole community will show up on Monday, July 18 for a Cobb County police community meeting at the South Cobb Recreation Center at 875 Riverside Pkwy. in Austell. The meeting will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.