EAST POINT, Ga. — East Point leaders are looking into the possibility of an earlier curfew for minors after another violent weekend at Camp Creek Marketplace.
Some are wondering why the curfew should change citywide when they believe the problem appears to be at the shopping center. The city however said it can’t issue the curfew for one part of the city.
Daphne Jordan and her husband were in the Camp Creek Marketplace Saturday night around 8:30 p.m. right before gunfire erupted.
“And there were teens everywhere. I mean I saw close to 200 teens,” she said. “It actually bothers me to see yet another shooting.”
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East Point police said a gunman fired into a crowd Saturday around 9 p.m. and shot three teenagers. Mayor Deana Ingraham told Channel 2′s Tom Jones the three teens are recovering.
There have been several shootings involving teens at the marketplace in the last few years. Ingraham said minors started to hang out when the movie theater, which is in Atlanta, re-opened.
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“That is when you see again start to see a group of children 250 300 youth gathering,” she said.
To stop those mass gatherings, the mayor plans to ask the council to move the city’s minor curfew to at least 9 p.m.
“The curfew right now is for 11. We need that to be earlier,” Ingraham said.
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There has always been a fine for breaking the current 11 p.m. curfew. For the first offense, a parent is given a verbal warning. For the second and subsequent offenses, it is $1,000 fine or up to 60 days in jail.
Some think only the shopping area needs an earlier curfew. The mayor told Jones curfew can only be citywide. Jordan is opposed to that.
“I can tell you that’s not actually going to help the situation we’re experiencing. That’s actually gonna further cause additional issues,” Jordan said.
Monday night’s meeting was when the mayor and council were expected to vote on the issue. The measure was tabled until a later date.
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