Atlanta police are on the hunt for 2 suspects involved in the brazen shooting of a tourist outside Lenox Square Mall on Wednesday.
Jenna White, of Myrtle Beach, was with her fiancée, Harrison Roff, and their 2-year-old son at Lenox when she stopped at a jewelry store.
As the family returned to their white Audi parked outside the Tesla dealership, they were ambushed by a gunman.
Roff spoke to Channel 2’s Nefertiti Jaquez about the terrifying moments that led up to the shooting.
“Someone came up to my door with a gun and told me to give them everything,” Roff told Jaquez.
Roff said he struggled with the thug while he screamed for White to get in the car.
During the struggle the gunman jumped into the back seat through an open door and put a gun to the toddler’s head.
That’s when White instinctively threw herself between the gunman and her son.
While this was happening, police said the gunman’s accomplice who stood by as a lookout shouted for the gunman to shoot Roff.
The gunman fired several rounds into the car, hitting White in the abdomen. Roff and his son were uninjured.
“The whole time, I was honking my horn and screaming for help. After she was shot, the two suspects ran off,” Roff told Jaquez.
“My son is only 2 years old, and for him to witness that was heartbreaking for me,” Roff said.
The area was soon swarming with police officers and mall security, but Roff had already sped off with his wounded fiancée and their hysterical son.
As he hit the gas he frantically dialed 911 emergency. He was connected to an operator who told him to pull into the Benihana restaurant parking lot a few miles south of the mall to meet an ambulance.
Emergency personnel transferred White from the car to an ambulance and rushed her to Grady Hospital in downtown Atlanta.
Back at the crime scene, investigators from the Atlanta Police Department collected spent bullet shells and reviewed surveillance footage from the jewelry store.
“Our investigative team has been working on this all day. They’re looking at video, going back to the scene and canvassing the area see if they can find witnesses,” said Sgt. Warren Pickard told Channel 2 News.
On Friday, police released surveillance footage of a black male pacing back and forth inside Forever Diamonds jewelry store. The victim is seen shopping in the store while her son was in a red stroller nearby.
In the video, the man is seen wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans, with a distinctive dreadlocks hairstyle with orange tips.
Several camera angles shows the man stalking the victim in the store while occasionally talking on his cell phone. The footage also shows a security guard positioned near the front door.
Police describe the man as a “person of interest” and hope witnesses to the shooting can help identify him.
As of Friday, White was listed in stable condition In intensive care following surgery.
Doctors told Jaquez it would take about 2 to 3 weeks for White to recover and return to her Myrtle Beach home.
Anyone with information on the suspects are asked to call Crime Stoppers at (404) 577-8477 or text tips to 274637. Tipsters can remain anonymous. There is a crime stoppers award of $2,000.
