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Child witnessed great-aunts shot at Peachtree Center
Jeremy T. Malone is now behind bars after he opened fire in an Atlanta food court, shooting two elderly sisters and a third victim. FOX 5 Atlanta's Tyler Fingert spoke exclusively with a little girl who witnessed the shooting and her mother who are related to the sisters.
ATLANTA - The shooting at The Hub at Peachtree Center remains under investigation. The gunman accused of opening fire inside a crowded food court in Downtown Atlanta waived his first court appearance Wednesday.
Police said 34-year-old Jeremy Malone shot three people Tuesday afternoon after a fight escalated into gunfire. Those shots sent bystanders scrambling for safety.
Chaos inside Atlanta food court
FOX 5 cameras captured the moment medics wheeled out a stretcher carrying a woman and 3-year-old Zaria. Zaria's mother spoke exclusively with FOX 5.
"From what her aunt tells me, is that she didn't know she was shot, and so, she looked down, and then the baby was like, ‘Auntie Donna, you got shot,’" the mother said.
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Three-year-old Zaria and her aunt being wheeled out on a stretch after a shooting at The Hub at Peachtree Center on June 11, 2024.
Zaria’s mom shared a clip she took of her daughter describing what happened. She asked FOX 5 to blur the video to protect her daughter.
"I didn’t get shot," Zaria said.
"How did you feel when the man was shooting?" her mom asked in the video.
"Bad," Zaria responded.
"You felt bad, were you scared?" her mom then asked. Zaria then shakes her head yes.
Zaria’s mom was at work while her daughter was spending a fun day with her two great-aunts. She never expected it to end with her rushing to meet them at the hospital.
Investigators said just after 2:15 p.m. Tuesday Malone got into a fight with someone and started shooting. Three people were hit, including Zaria’s aunts. An off-duty Atlanta police officer working an extra job took the suspect down.
"They are very brave, and they are very strong women," Zaria’s mom said. "I did not see them shed a tear yesterday when they got shot. They were in high spirits."
Both of those women are home from the hospital.
Who is Jeremy Malone?
Jeremy Malone (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)
Malone is a convicted felon and has been arrested 11 times. He waived his first court appearance Wednesday morning. The three people he is accused of shooting are expected to survive.
Malone was behind bars at the Fulton County Jail without bond as of Wednesday afternoon.
Investigators said Malone, who was out on bond, did not know any of his victims.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Malone served 15 years for two counts of robbery by intimidation verdicts in 2007. He has multiple other arrests across metro Atlanta.