ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) – A 15-year-old is in the hospital in critical condition after being shot by an officer near Six Flags over Georgia, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
According to authorities, 500 to 600 people were “running through the park and fighting” on Saturday. Cobb County officers reportedly followed the crowd onto Six Flags Parkway around 6:15 p.m. when “an unknown number of suspects” fired at officers.
The teen was hit when officers returned fire and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Cobb County Police notified the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which has taken over the investigation into the shooting.
According to the GBI on Sunday, the agency’s preliminary investigation shows CCPD officers were responding to assist with crowd control near the park’s entrance “after several fights had taken place amongst patrons who were leaving the park.”
At some point, “multiple people began shooting, hitting an unoccupied CCPD marked patrol car.”
“As officers identified where the shots were coming from, they ran after people who had run into the woods. During the incident, one CCPD officer fired his weapon, hitting one minor,” according to the GBI.
Police recovered a handgun near the teen, according to the GBI.
The agency said no officers were injured.
According to Six Flags Over Georgia, the shooting happened on nearby South Service Road, which is not owned or operated by the theme park.
Six Flags Over Georgia sent WANF the following statement in response to the incident:
“Our goal is to provide safe, fun entertainment. We employ state of the art security systems and metal detection, maintain a robust and vigilant Public Safety Department, and have strong support from Cobb County Police who are present both inside and outside the park. Every guest is expected to follow our strict code of conduct and anyone unwilling to follow that code of conduct is unwelcome.
It is incredibly disappointing that our community is disrupted at public events throughout the region by groups of underaged youth. Just like other venues in the area, we are committed to keeping this type of trouble outside our park and off our property. There was police activity involving gunshots; we want to confirm there was no shooting at our property or parking lot. This took place on South Service Road that is not owned or operated by Six Flags. However, we join our community and the Atlanta region in our commitment to safety and security. We won’t put up with that type of activity here.”
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First appeared on www.wdbj7.com