ATLANTA — The shooting rocked a quiet suburb on a sunny weekend afternoon. A sheriff’s deputy said he’d never seen so many victims at once. A neighbor described the horror of seeing a child’s body lying in the street.
A gunman parked down the street from his ex-wife’s home in Douglas County, Georgia, sneaked up on the house and opened fire Saturday, witnesses told CNN affiliate WSB-TV.
Cedric G. Prather, 33, took his own life after shooting six people, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. Four of the people he shot were killed, including a 7-year-old child who died at the scene and a 9-year-old who later died at the hospital. Latoya A. Andrews, 33, and Joseph Terry Brown, 33, were also killed.
A 15-year-old and an 8-year-old remain hospitalized in critical condition, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities in the Atlanta suburb have said they’re still trying to piece together details about the relationship between the shooter and the victims and plan to discuss it in more detail at a briefing scheduled for Monday.
Multiple victims were shot in the street, Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Stan Copeland told WSB. In his 38 years on the job, he said “(he’d) never seen this many victims in one shooting.”
“Neighbors are in shock,” he said.
Neighbor Julie Futral told WSB she saw a child’s body in the road.
Teresa Carter lives across the street from where the shooting took place. While she didn’t see anything, she did hear gunfire.
“I heard gunshots,” said Carter. “Then there was a little silence. And then I heard the little girl screaming – and then I heard four more gunshots.”
“I didn’t hear it, but I understand the little girl said, ‘Daddy no’ or ‘Daddy don’t’ – and then he shot her,” Carter said.
