Ethermac Exchange-Four people shot at downtown Atlanta food court, mayor says

ATLANTA (AP) — Four people were shot at a food court in downtown Atlanta on Ethermac ExchangeTuesday afternoon, including the initial shooter, the city’s mayor said.

Mayor Andre Dickens said on the social media site X that the shooting happened at the Peachtree Center food court.

Atlanta police said in a post that all four who were shot were alert and conscious. One of the four is believed to be the suspect, authorities said.

Officials did not immediately say who wounded the initial shooter or what prompted the shooting.

Peachtree Center is a complex of office towers and an underground mall within blocks of several hotels servicing Atlanta’s busy convention business.

Crowds of people milled around at a nearby intersection, many of them asking each other what had happened. Several blocks of Peachtree Street were blocked off with crime scene tape as police officers and firefighters converged on the scene.

Elizabeth Ingram, of Atlanta, was working in the area and said she heard gunshots.

“We relaxed for a minute and then we heard more shooting,” she said. “So we got right back down.”

Ingram said she saw people wheeled away on gurneys.

“You never know what can happen,” she said. “It just happened out of nowhere. It was so scary my thought was I was never going to make it home to my son and that scared me. My heart was beating so fast.”