ATLANTA — One man is dead and another wounded after police say the two got into a gun battle inside a popular neighborhood store.
It happened inside the Grocery Brothers store on Metropolitan Parkway around noon.
People who frequent the business saw police and crime scene tape and initially thought something had happened to the owners.
It was a sense of relief when they learned the workers were safe.
“Thank God they didn’t get hit,” resident Lonnie Walker said.
Walker says he’s always in the business many affectionally call the ‘Green Store’ because it is painted green.
“They have been in that store for some years, man. I’ve been knowing them for a long time,” Walker explained.
Walker was surprised to hear police say two men got into a gun fight in the store, where one man was killed, the other wounded.
Police explained what they learned from watching the store’s video surveillance.
“We do know from the video that there was some type of verbal altercation just minutes before the shooting happened,” Atlanta Police Lt. Andrew Smith said.
“This doesn’t normally happen in the store,” Walker said.
He explained the owners were nice people and wondered why the gunmen didn’t value the other’s life. Officers say the two shooters were in their 20s.
Walker says something has to change to stop the culture of gun violence.
“Look like nobody don’t love nobody no more. They don’t,” Walker said.
Police say about five shots were fired in the store. Officers say the man who was wounded is stable in the hospital.