Police searching for killer after man found shot to death near busy Cobb shopping center

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Police are searching for a killer who shot a young man outside a busy Cobb County shopping area.

It happened at West Village between Interstate 285 and Atlanta Road.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden has been digging into the case and learned the victim was born in Georgia but had been living in Alabama.

Police say he showed up to the West Village last month, where something went terribly wrong.

“I was a little shaken up,” Megan DeAlba said.

Seiden met DeAlba as she was walking her dog outside the Smyrna shopping center Friday afternoon.

Police said officers responded to an apartment complex’s swimming pool in the area July 17 to reports of shots fired nearby around 11:15 p.m.

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That’s when they found Jason Escoffrey on the ground suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

The 21-year-old was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“So the night that it happened, did you see anything? Hear anything?” Seiden asked DeAlba.

“I didn’t — I was already in bed. But my roommate did. She was on the balcony,” DeAlba said. “She just heard the gunshots, and the cops came.”

Right now, investigators aren’t releasing details about why Escoffrey was there or a possible motive, but they are calling on the public for help in identifying a suspect.

In the meantime, tenants are calling what happened an isolated situation.

“There’s Cobb County cops that are posted up pretty much 24/7, especially at night patrolling,” DeAlba said.

Escoffrey’s sister is asking for privacy as she and her family continue to mourn their loved one.

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