One dead, 10 injured in exchange of gunfire in Atlanta, according to police

An exchange of gunfire in a busy Atlanta nightlife area early Monday left one person dead and 10 others injured, police said. The incident comes on the heels of a violent weekend in Georgia's capital.

Officers responded to a report of multiple people shot on Edgewood Avenue in the Sweet Auburn neighbourhood around 1:30 am Monday and found 11 people had been shot and one of them had died, Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference with the mayor on Monday morning.

Medical personnel pronounced one man dead at the scene. The Fulton County medical examiner's office identified the man as 27-year-old Santos J Wyatt.

Ten victims with gunshot wounds, seven male and three female, were taken to a hospital, police said in a news release. One of them, an 18-year-old man, is critically injured, Schierbaum said.

Police are looking for three males and a female who approached a group of people around a streetcar stop on Edgewood Avenue and believe they initiated the exchange of gunfire, Schierbaum said. He expected officials would release video soon. Police recovered firearms and 34 shell casings on the scene and investigators are working with their ballistics lab and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, he said.

Police are investigating 12 violent incidents that left 29 people injured and two dead over the weekend, Schierbaum said. Other incidents were related to cars being booted or domestic violence, but the chief said investigators were still seeking clarity on what led up to the shooting on Edgewood Avenue and they are asking anyone with information to reach out to officials.

Police don't yet know what prompted the shooting, but they aren't seeing any indications that it was gang connected, Schierbaum said. The majority of the victims were likely innocent bystanders.

The chief and Mayor Andre Dickens noted that the city has seen positive trends in crime including reductions in shootings and homicides. There have been 57 homicides in the city this year, compared to 76 at this time last year, Schierbaum said.

We haven't had a weekend like this in a long time, Dickens said. We know that summer months often bring some of the most challenging times when it comes to crime and gun violence in our communities. We are doing all that we can to prevent these tragedies, even before they happen.