Police: Fight over parking spot led to deadly mall shooting

Atlanta police said a fight over a parking spot led to the fatal shooting of a man outside a high-end shopping center in one of the city’s most prominent neighborhoods. Two groups of people in separate vehicles at Lenox Mall got into a spat over the parking space Sunday, Atlanta Police Maj. Andrew Senzer told reporters at a news conference.

The groups went inside the mall, but the argument escalated when both parties came back outside, police said. During the fight, the victim was shot in the head, Senzer said.

The victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene, wasn’t immediately identified.

Four suspects took off in their vehicle, but police say they were involved in a crash while trying to leave the mall. All four got out and ran away, but an officer captured one suspect and took that person into custody. It was unclear whether the suspect in custody was the shooter.

This was the fourth shooting in four months at the upscale mall, according to news outlets.

In December, a mall employee was shot and robbed as she walked to her car in a parking garage, news outlets reported.

The following month, an officer shot a man who refused to put down his gun in a parking deck. The man may have been trying to stop a robbery.

A man was shot in the stomach while meeting for a “prearranged sale” at the mall in February, according to news outlets.