The mother tells 11Alive she was picking up food from a College Park restaurant. Since 2018 there have been at least two deadly shootings in the same shopping center
CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — For a mother of four from Union City, making food deliveries through services such as Uber Eats is how she pays her family’s bills.
Kristy, who doesn’t want 11Alive to use her full name, said a delivery Saturday around 1 a.m. in Clayton County turned into a nightmare.
However, she believes a higher power protected her family, as at least one bullet narrowly missed her newborn.
“I’ve been doing it since 2018 and I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Kristy said about delivering for Uber Eats.
She described how when she makes deliveries her disabled husband sits in the passenger seat, while their 2-month-old daughter Abigail sits in her car seat in the back of the car. Abigail according to Kristy refuses to take a bottle and tags along in case she needs to be fed.
On Saturday, Abigail was sleeping as Kristy went into Icebar Lounge and Restaurant off West Fayetteville Road in College Park.
“I was handed the food and then my husband called from the car and said, ‘Hey you need to get out here now, something is about to go down,'” she recalled.
Moments later her husband witnessed people running out of the Icebar and then he heard gunfire, she said.
Kristy showed 11Alive three bullet holes in the couple’s SUV.
One bullet went into the side door directly next to Abigail’s car seat but appears to have been redirected before missing the young girl’s seat and going through the driver’s seat.
Another bullet is still visibly trapped inside the rear gate of their vehicle. A third bullet hole is noticeable, but Kristy doesn’t know where the bullet ended up.
Kristy also snapped a picture of more than a dozen shell casings in the parking lot, marked by evidence numbers from Clayton County Police as investigators pieced together the scene Saturday.
The mother had heard each gunshot and stayed inside the Icebar until police arrived and it was safe to come outside.
“My emotions are still kind of like I can’t believe that that happened. I know that Jesus protected us,” she said.
On Monday, Clayton County Police released limited details about the shooting.
A department spokesperson described officers around 1:00 a.m. Saturday responding to a drive-by shooting in the area of the Icebar, and during an initial investigation, officers learned multiple vehicles were damaged, as a result of the shooting.
According to Clayton County Police, there currently are no known suspects or anyone in custody for the shooting.
The Icebar sits three doors down from a barbershop where on April 3 the shop’s co-owner 17-year-old Anthony McClain was shot and killed.
Back in 2018 fights inside the Icebar escalated to gunfire, resulting in one death and three other people being injured.
Clayton County Police haven’t named any suspects or made any arrests for either of the deadly shootings at the same shopping center.
Kristy said she will keep delivering food to make ends meet, but will stay far away from the scene of the shootings.
“It just replays in my mind and it’s like I’m right there back at the scene and I can see it and feel it and hear it,” Kristy said.