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Gunfire causes early closure of pools in the city of Atlanta

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Gunfire causes early closure of pools in the city of Atlanta

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Photo obtained via https://www.facebook.com/grantparkpool/

Photo obtained via https://www.facebook.com/grantparkpool/

This story has been updated. 

Some pools in the city of Atlanta closed early on June 13 after reports of gunfire at Oakland City park.

Anne Torres, director of communications for the mayor’s office, released the following statement about the closures on Tuesday afternoon, June 14:

Protecting the safety of the children and families in City of Atlanta pools is our top priority. For this reason, law enforcement officers patrol all city pools during operating hours. A Fulton County Sherriff was on site at Reverend James Orange Pool [in Oakland City park] on Monday, June 13 when APD received reports of gunshots fired in the area. The incident did not take place on pool property.

Select pools were scheduled to be closed; out of an abundance of caution, the remaining pools were closed for a few hours earlier than scheduled. All pools are open as scheduled today, Tuesday, June 14.

The Computer Aided Dispatch reports show the 911 calls started coming in around 3 p.m. There’s no official police report, but the CAD says there were “shots being fired,” “lots of screaming” and someone was “telling people to go towards the pool area.” The CAD report also says there were “20 shots fired.”

Initially it was not clear why the pools had closed.

Decaturish received a message on the morning of June 14 and discovered online chatter about a possible shooting at one of the city’s pools in the park. A spokesperson for the Atlanta Police department said, “A call was located about shots fired around the park but there were no injuries.”

Yesterday, June 13, Friends of Grant Park Pool announced on its Facebook page that its pool had closed early.

“We don’t have any details regarding the pool closure, but that it applied to all outdoor pools run by the City of Atlanta,” the Friends of Grant Park Pool wrote on their Facebook page. “The pool WILL resume regular business hours tomorrow. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and will share any additional information as we receive it.”

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A person who answered the phone at the Grant Park Pool said they and the management of the pool were uncertain about the reasons for the closures.

“None of our lifeguards or managers are aware of why we closed early,” the person who answered the phone said.

Torres initially told Decaturish the closures had been previously scheduled.

“There was no shooting at the pool,” she said.

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