A Chevron gas station in Lithonia turned into an active crime scene Monday evening after a shooting left the parking lot roped off and one person sent to an area hospital, as a large DeKalb County Police presence moved in. Forensic investigators dropped evidence markers across the lot while detectives worked into the night to document the scene. Police have not released the victim’s name or current condition.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, citing the DeKalb County Police Department, the gunfire erupted at the Chevron station at South Stone Mountain-Lithonia Road and South Deshon Road, and one person was rushed to a nearby hospital. A FOX 5 crew on the ground reported that investigators photographed numbered evidence markers, pulled surveillance footage and interviewed witnesses as they tried to piece together how the shooting unfolded.
A troubling pattern in DeKalb
The Chevron gunfire adds to a growing list of late-night parking-lot and shopping-center incidents across DeKalb County this spring. In early May, a shooting outside the Publix at the Centre at Panola left a woman dead and a man hospitalized, as reported by Atlanta News First, and local coverage by similar crime scenes around Lithonia and Stone Mountain has tracked related incidents nearby. Residents and officials say these episodes have cranked up anxiety around what used to feel like routine grocery runs, gas stops and late-night errands.
What officials say and how to help…