The Fox Five News at Four is starting now. There were some scary moments at Georgia Gwinnett College this morning when a shooting occurred near campus, leading to a lockdown.
Good afternoon, and thank you for watching Fox Five News at Four. I’m Christine Spiro.
Kim Loeffler is on location near where the shooting took place. Lawrenceville police are shocked that this incident was not isolated.
The shooting occurred on Countryside Place, near the intersection of Collins Hill Road, which is about a mile away from campus but close to the tennis courts owned by Georgia Gwinnett College. The police chief informed me that they implemented a soft lockdown this morning as a precautionary measure. Lawrenceville police received a 911 call around 3:30 a.m.
reporting gunshots near the GCC tennis courts. According to the police, the occupants of a dark sedan shot at a 35-year-old victim who was in a tow truck and then fled the scene.
The victim was not on a call during the shooting, but the police believe they were specifically targeted. Shortly after, Georgia Gwinnett College initiated a soft lockdown. We were unaware of the direction the suspects took, so we went into lockdown while campus security checked the parking lots and surrounding areas to ensure the vehicle did not enter the campus. The lockdown was lifted just before 7 a.m.
The victim, a 35-year-old, sustained at least one gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital by relatives. Thankfully, the injuries are not life-threatening.
The victim is a local resident who has no connection to the GCC campus. The dark sedan fled the scene after the shooting, and Georgia Gwinnett College police do not believe it ever entered the campus.
We believe the car just drove by. We have a system called a flock system, which reads license plates and quickly takes a photo of the vehicle.
We provided this information to the Lawrenceville police. This is a very calm and safe campus, and although people were concerned, with the information we provided, we believe those concerns were alleviated promptly. The Lawrenceville Police Department is currently investigating the shooting..
