DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A victim shot in an apparent overnight drive-by shooting is feeling extra thankful this Thanksgiving Day after surviving the spray of gunfire that pierced the DeKalb County home he stays in.
DeKalb police said the victim, who didn't want to be identified out of fear of retaliation, was one of four people hurt in the early morning hours Thursday after someone fired more than 100 rounds through the windows and walls of the home off Cascade Manor Drive.
"We were just laying there sleeping and next thing you know they shot it up," he told 11Alive.
Police said officers responded around 3 a.m. to find the four people shot. All were taken to the hospital from treatment. None had life-threatening injuries. They ranged in age from 37 to 57, according to police.
The victim, who was grazed in the leg, told 11Alive the home is a rooming house and he and his girlfriend stay downstairs. Others who live upstairs also got shot. "Everyone got shot," he added.
"(My girlfriend) just got grazed in the back, it’s like a flesh wound," he said. "(I) got flesh wounds on my leg right here, so it didn’t penetrate, thank god."
Now, those who live close by say the excess of 100 rounds that rocked the normally quiet neighborhood have them on edge.
"It was ... loud," the victim described. "It was like a while bunch of them back to back to back to back. I was like, 'oh my god.' It almost sounded like fireworks."
Dekalb police said detectives are still investigating the incident and they are asking anyone with information to come forward.
As for the victim 11Alive spoke to, he said on the day everyone gives thanks, he’s just thankful he and his girlfriend, who was also hit, are alive.