A mother and son were inside of a dressing room in the Adidas store at Lenox Square Wednesday when the 8-year-old found what he thought was a toy gun under a bench.
That's when police said the mom pulled the trigger to "determine if the gun was real," according to an Atlanta Police Report. It happened about 5:42pm Wednesday, police say.
A single shot was fired from the .22 caliber gun but no one was injured. Police say "there was minimal damage to the wall" from the gunshot.
Police responded to the mall and took the gun into evidence. They have made no arrests and the incident is under investigation.
11Alive is Holding the Powerful Accountable and reached out to Lenox Square's management company who gave us this statement:
“Lenox Square management and the store involved are working closely with the Atlanta Police Department to share any information that may be helpful...Lenox Square is committed to providing a safe, quality shopping environment for our guests and employees. We are thankful that there were no injuries as a result of this isolated incident.”
Jim Hinsdale, a manager at Chuck's Firearms in Buckhead, said that the idea of someone who is inexperienced with firearms questioning whether a gun is real or a toy is not that far-fetched.
"I’ve seen the toy versions," Hindsdale said. "You can go into many toy stores and even some of the Air Soft guns stores. The guns are – they’re hard to tell the difference...with the exception of maybe the fluorescent orange tip on the barrel."
Hinsdale said people should assume guns they see are loaded, and advises strongly against pulling the trigger to verify if they're real.
