Atlanta police are searching for a second suspect in a Thursday-afternoon shootout at a southwest Atlanta apartment complex that sent stray bullets through the walls of two homes and injured two women who were inside, the Atlanta Police Department said. Investigators have released surveillance footage of the man they are hunting, and Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest and indictment.

Source: Dispatch Times

Officers responded at about 4:23 p.m. on Thursday, November 5 to reports of a person shot at 1994 Bent Creek Way SW, the address of The Park at Castleton Apartments, near Campbellton Road, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Department said. Dispatch Times, reporting the police account, put the outbreak of gunfire at about 4:20 p.m.

Source: Atlanta News First (WANF)

Several people exchanged fire in the car park, then fled

The department's preliminary investigation indicates that multiple people exchanged gunfire outside the complex, in its car park, before fleeing, police said. No one shot outside was reported injured — the two people hit were inside their own apartments when the bullets came through the walls.

Source: Atlanta News First (WANF)

Bullets penetrated two separate apartments, striking each victim, police said. Officers found a 19-year-old woman and a 21-year-old woman with gunshot wounds. Both women were alert, conscious and breathing when they were taken to hospital, according to police. Their names and their current conditions have not been released.

Source: Atlanta News First (WANF)

Teen detained at the scene was arrested on Friday

Officers detained a person for questioning at the scene on Thursday. On Friday, Atlanta police said they had arrested that person, a 15-year-old boy, in connection with the shootout. His identity was not released because of his age, and Awaaz Punjab does not name juvenile suspects.

Source: Atlanta News First (WANF)

The teenager has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a handgun by someone younger than 18, and first-degree criminal damage to property, police said. He was taken to the Metro Regional Youth Detention Center. The charges are allegations, and the case will be handled in the juvenile system.

Source: Dispatch Times

The second suspect: what police have released

Investigators have released surveillance footage showing an armed person wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans, Dispatch Times reported. Police have not identified the second suspect beyond the clothing shown in the footage, and they have also not said what sparked the shooting. Anyone who recognises the person in the footage is being asked to come forward before there is another exchange of fire in a residential complex.

Source: Dispatch Times

Shot inside their own homes

What makes this shooting different from most Atlanta gunfire cases is who was hit. Neither woman was in the car park or, on the police account, part of the dispute outside: both were indoors, in separate apartments, in the middle of the afternoon, when rounds fired outside passed through their walls. For the families who live at The Park at Castleton — a large residential complex off Campbellton Road in southwest Atlanta — the case is a reminder that a parking-lot argument can reach straight into a living room, and it is why police are treating the hunt for the second gunman as urgent rather than routine.

What happens next

The search for the second suspect is active, built around the surveillance footage and the Crime Stoppers appeal. The 15-year-old's case proceeds in juvenile court, where his name stays sealed because of his age. Police have not released the two women's conditions, have not announced any further arrests, and have not said what the shootout was about; the preliminary investigation is continuing, and Atlanta police say the story is still developing.

Source: Atlanta News First (WANF)