Mother pleads for suspect in fatal neighborhood park shooting to surrender
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - DeKalb County Police charged a wounded man with murder Wednesday, and issued a lookout for another suspect in a shootout at a park that killed an innocent bystander.
Police issued the lookout for 31-year-old Jamon Bigby after obtaining a murder warrant.
Investigators also charged 35-year-old Jermaine Stephens, who was wounded in the shootout, with murder.
The Tuesday afternoon shootout in the DeKalb County neighborhood park killed one man and wounded at least two others.
People duck in cars, behind cars during shootout on Cedar St. @DeKalbCountyPD say 2 groups had dispute @fox5atlanta pic.twitter.com/OTTcEkCjuh
— Jaclyn Schultz FOX 5 (@jaclynFOX5ATL) August 16, 2016
The ordeal happened at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Cedar Park along Cedar Street.
DeKalb County police said two groups involved in a prior dispute got into a shootout at the location, but would not elaborate on what caused the dispute.
Police said one group was at the park, while the other was in a newer white SUV. Police said they were searching for the individual or individuals in the SUV.
One witness, who wanted to remain nameless, said she had to duck from the gunfire.
"A horror movie. You can hear, first, gunshots, like pow pow pow...," she said.
Family members of Bigby said one of the victims struck his sister-in-law, Tomika Alexander, 40, who is also a mother of eight.
"I know he had no intentions of hurting me... but he needs to do what's right. Turn himself in," Alexander said, who spoke to us by phone from while she is still in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to the leg.
Alexander's daughters, who also spoke to FOX 5, hope Bigby will turn himself in to prevent himself from getting hurt. They also said Alexander had just drove from Mississippi to visit friends and relatives at the park, when gunfire erupted.
Shootout between two groups of men leads to 3 people shot, 1 dead off Cedar St in DeKalb Co @fox5atlanta pic.twitter.com/hKGS9IwrwP
— Jaclyn Schultz FOX 5 (@jaclynFOX5ATL) August 16, 2016
Witnesses describe shootout as a horror movie. Male and female shot, critical. Another dead at scene @fox5atlanta pic.twitter.com/gPPyPRIfH1
— Jaclyn Schultz FOX 5 (@jaclynFOX5ATL) August 16, 2016
Family members told FOX 5 News that Lamont Lattimore, a man in his 50s, was killed in the shootout. They said he was not part of the incident, but rather an innocent bystander.
"Senseless," said cousin Leila Banks to FOX 5. "More innocent people could have been shot. People don't think before they react," she said, describing her cousin as a calm, quiet man who was close with family and grew up in the neighborhood.
Neighbors said that Lattimore was well-known in the neighborhood, and would often sit outside at the local park.
"He wasn't a person that would go around shooting at [anybody]... He was a nice person," said neighbor Yvonne Benton.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call DeKalb County Police or Atlanta Crime Stoppers.