Police searching for gunman who killed 14-year-old boy at southeast Atlanta strip mall

ATLANTA - Atlanta police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a 14-year-old boy in a strip mall parking lot in the 1000 block of Fayetteville Road in southeast Atlanta at around 6:20 Tuesday evening.

"I'm in here working trying to help a customer," store owner Lewis Wright said. "All of a sudden we heard like five, six gunshots."

Atlanta police responded to a person shot call and discovered the wounded teen. The victim had been shot multiple times. Medics rushed him to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, yet another victim of senseless gun violence.

Rasheeda Simmons said she first saw the teen in the neighborhood earlier this summer. He often played with her two sons.

"I can't imagine what his family is going through right now," Simmons said.

No one who spoke with FOX 5 on Wednesday knew his name or whether he has relatives in Atlanta, but some said the boy stayed at a nearby apartment complex with a family friend, after his mother reportedly moved out of state. They said he didn’t attend school.

"He hung out with everybody," Tamishia Mishra said. "Everybody accepted him around the neighborhood. I never seen him get into a lot of trouble."

The DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office was still trying to notify the victim's family of his death Wednesday.

Anyone with information in the case can contact the Atlanta Police Department.