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Residents push for change after shooting at permitted park event

Published  August 11, 2018 9:21am EDT
News
FOX 5 Atlanta

ATLANTA - Kirkwood residents want to know how a back-to-school event descended into chaos and how police plan to keep it from happening again.

Members of the Atlanta Police Department, City Council members, and Parks representatives met with residents to discuss the shooting at Coan Park last Saturday night.

City Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong spoke exclusively with FOX 5 on Friday regarding her call for a review of Department of Parks and Recreation process for issuing permits.

MORE: Police: Back to school bash grew out of hand, turned violent

Archibong also wants violators to face penalties.

“We're going to be hearing from the community about what they would like to see changed, be it an increase in bond requirements, be it some look at the marketing that's parallel track for an event,” Archibong said.

At issue, how the size of a crowd for a back-to-school event grew out of control. Organizers received a permit for 200 people to attend Saturday's event at Coan Park. The City says 2,000 people showed up after learning famous rappers would be in attendance. That put a strain on police resources, and things worsened that night when someone shot a man in the leg.

The Atlanta Police Department says it intends to charge the organizers for the additional resources needed during the event.

“It is extremely complex,” Archibong told FOX 5's Kerry Charles. “One of the things I hear the department is considering is that if you have an event and the crowd size exceeds the application then you would be [prevented] from having permission to have another event.”

Archibong says organizers can easily get around that penalty.

“All I have to do, if I'm a promoter, is to ask a friend of mine to be the event organizer.”

Members at Friday night's meeting suggested holding an organizer's credit card information.

The city says the Community Development and Human Services Committee will discuss a resolution calling for the review during a meeting on August 14th at 12:30p.m. in Committee Room No. 1.