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'I watched my baby friend die.' Violence in South Fulton neighborhood leaves residents defeated

Neighbors 11Alive spoke to had plenty to say about what they call an epidemic of violent crimes right at their doorsteps.

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Neighbors in a South Fulton neighborhood tell 11Alive they are feeling defeated and fed up with what they're calling an epidemic of violent crime by criminals they say have won.

It comes after three teens were shot on Two Lakes Circle in the City of South Fulton, two of them fatally.

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"It was just senseless! It was senseless. It was senseless," one resident exclaimed in frustration. "They was kids, you know what I'm saying? They was kids."

City of South Fulton Police told 11Alive the shooting happened just before 1 a.m. at a home in the 2900 block of Two Lakes Circle.

When officers arrived they found two males shot to death and one 15-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound to his face. Police originally thought the two victims who were killed, 16-year-old Grant Antonio Payton and 19-year-old Tyree Johnson, were adults, but later confirmed they were teens.

Neighbors told 11Alive that Payton was shot by a flying bullet that went through the home.

16-year-old Grant Payton (Photo: Provided by family)

11Alive spoke with the woman who owned the home. She said the gunfire woke her up in the middle of the night. She found Payton, a friend of her son who was visiting their home, dead in her living room.

"I watched my baby friend die in my f****** living room floor," the woman, who didn't want to be identified, shouted out in frustration.

She found Johnson, another friend of her son, shot inside a car parked in her driveway.

A 15-year-old boy, whose name police have not released, was shot in the face, but he survived. According to police, the 15-year-old had run to a neighbor's home for help after he was shot. The neighbor then drove the teen to meet with an ambulance, where he was transported to the hospital.

The woman told 11Alive whoever shot the three teens ran away before she saw them.

Outside the home, nearly two dozen evidence markers mapped the scene of the crime – shell casings from the gunfire At least four vehicles and a nearby house were riddled with bullets.

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City of South Fulton Police detectives are not saying anything yet about suspects or a motive, but neighbors 11Alive spoke to had plenty to say about what they call an epidemic of violent crimes right at their doorsteps.

“It’s dangerous. We have to move," Rachel Huiel explained.

Huiel has four children and one grandchild, but she said she's moving with her children and grandchild to her mother's immediately and not coming back.

“You can’t sleep. It’s always killing over here, fighting, breaking in," she explained. "I’m scared, and I have a grand-baby at home, and I’m just scared.”

11Alive has requested crime records for the neighborhood from the City of South Fulton, but they were not immediately available.

Meanwhile, the woman's son, who watched his friends suffer and and die from gunfire, is fighting along with his family and neighbors to stay alive another day.

"His heart is hurt forever," she said.

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