Grady was placed on lockdown at approximately 5 p.m. on March 26 after a man involved in an altercation on Charles Allen Drive attempted to enter the school while fleeing a law enforcement official. It was Grady’s first lockdown since Feb. 27, when a student shot herself in the leg.
Carmen Draper, father of former Grady student Shannon Draper, lives on Charles Allen and witnessed the event. Draper said two men were engaged in a “punching match” on the street when Draper’s son in-law, a member of the Atlanta Police Department K-9 Unit told them to stop fighting. The men got into a nearby white Volvo and attempted to drive away. “[The men in the car] were reversing in his direction,” Draper said. “Fearing for his life he pulled a pistol. In the process of trying to escape they lost control, sideswiped one car and hit another car.”
Draper said they then travelled about 20 feet on the sidewalk, clipping a fourth car in the process. After a tree halted the car, the two men got out and began running away. The driver sprinted toward an entrance to Grady but was overtaken by the dog of the K-9 unit officer, who declined comment and requested not to be identified by name because the investigation is ongoing. The second man fled on foot and has not been apprehended. A third man was arrested at the scene but told police he had actually been the victim of car theft; he said the white Volvo was his and had been stolen as he stood on the sidewalk.
Grady students and teachers gathered in the cafeteria and were allowed to go home after checking in with assistant principal David Propst. Sophomore Carter Guensler was in the theater auditioning for a role in the senior one-act plays when he heard Propst announce the lockdown. Guensler and the other actors and senior directors continued their auditions in the cafeteria.
“[The lockdown] probably wasn’t necessary, but if it had been worse it would have been good that we were in the cafeteria,” Guensler said.
The APD was continuing its investigation as tow trucks arrived to remove two cars from the scene.
