Shooting Of 5-Year-Old Leads To 2 Arrests, Charges

ATLANTA, GA — Two men have been arrested and charged in a shooting incident that injured a 5-year-old who was simply passing by.

Deontea Anderson, 28, faces aggravated assault, first-degree child cruelty, and obstruction charges, and 24-year-old Paul Hinds Jr. was charged with the same offenses as well as a misdemeanor charge for marijuana possession.

Atlanta Police say the child was riding in the backseat of a car traveling along Campbellton Road in the 1800 block when the drivers of two different vehicles opened fire at one another just before 6 p.m. on Jan. 19.

Investigators said a bullet from the crossfire hit the vehicle the child was in, entered the back seat, and struck the child in the back, grazing the child. The child was alert when taken to a nearby hospital with the single gunshot wound, police said.

However, this child’s family was more fortunate than the family of two other children killed this month by unintended gunfire. A 1-year-old was killed when he was left alone on Jan. 12 with another young child and an unsecured gun that the second child found and fired. The toddler’s mother was arrested on a second-degree murder charge.

Monday afternoon, an infant was shot and killed in the crossfire of gunfire stemming from an apparent dispute in the Bankhead neighborhood, police said. The child was only 6 months old.