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Atlanta Pre-K ceremony marred by gunfire

According to police, the shooting happened in the parking lot of the Campbellton Community Center located at 2800 Campbellton Rd. SW where people were gathered for the graduation.

ATLANTA -- Atlanta police have charged a man with a misdemeanor after he fired two gunshots outside a preschool graduation ceremony. It happened in southwest Atlanta on Campbellton Road

The Campbellton Road Event Center filled up Thursday morning with the families of schoolchildren who were having a ceremony to mark their completion of a preschool program.

One of the families had some issues, and one of the family members had a pistol. “Everybody was coming out of the building,” said Khalidah Holloway, who says she is related to the family that had the issues. She says two estranged parents of three of the children at the event exchanged words.

Police say family members surrounded a man who happened to be packing a .380 pistol. Police say he pulled the weapon and fired two shots into the ground. “He was intimidated by the family members,” said Sgt. Eric Teague of Atlanta PD. “And in his defense, he discharged the weapon at the ground as a scare tactic.”

MORE | Fight leads to shooting outside Pre-K graduation

Holloway said the gunshots frightened the people attending the event. “They was going crazy because there was a lot of kids, like all their kids was out here,” Holloway said. “They’re all little kids.”

But Atlanta police say because the gunman didn’t point the weapon at anybody, he was charged with a misdemeanor and given the equivalent of a traffic ticket. “I wasn’t aware there were any kids out here in the parking lot. Graduation ceremony, from what I understand, was over,” Teague said. “We did verify he was not a convicted felon and whatnot, and he had a right to have a firearm.”

The unidentified gunman was charged with discharging a firearm in the city limits, which is a misdemeanor. Police allowed him to drive away.

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