Six Flags Over Georgia is an amusement park located in Austell GA, an Atlanta metropolitan area. Many locals go to enjoy a fun day of riding rides and spending time with family and friends. Sophomore Claire Wright describes her experience, “Six Flags is really fun because they have a lot of fun rides. My favorite is the Blue Hawk.” Over the past few years, there have been many incidents of violence in the park.
On March 2, the opening day of their operation season, the Cobb County Police Department was notified of several fights between people inside and exiting the parks. There was an unruly crowd running and fighting throughout the park.
Police followed the crowd onto the nearby Six Flags Parkway, which is the road outside of the park. During this, multiple suspects began shooting officers and destroying property. The group of people tried to make a break for the woods hoping they would get the police off their tails.
As the officers followed them into the woods, they began to try to describe the situation. During the attempted desolation, a Cobb County Police Officer fired his weapon, hitting a 15-year-old boy who was involved with the unruly crowd. The teen was transported to Grady Hospital and was treated for his critical injuries. With further investigation, a handgun was found next to where the boy was shot, but police were unable to figure out if the boy had shot it during the incident.
Six Flags released a statement following the park events stating, “Every guest is expected to follow our strict code of conduct, and anyone unwilling to follow that code of conduct is unwelcome. It is incredibly disappointing that our community is disrupted at public events throughout the region by groups of underaged youth. Just like other venues in the area, we are committed to keeping this type of trouble outside our park and off our property.”
Cobb County Police Department is now handing the ongoing investigation over to the Georiga Bureau of Investigation. As of now, there has been no update on the boys’ condition. There have been no reported injuries from civilians or the Cobb County Police Department.
