ATLANTA — A family is still in shock after getting the call that one of their loved ones was shot while on an everyday jog through their Buckhead neighborhood on Saturday.
Atlanta Police said around 8:30 a.m. they were dispatched to the 1200 block of West Wesley Road NW for reports of a man who had been shot while jogging.
“On the weekends, a lot of times he'll get up before the kids are up and he'll go exercise,” said Anne Worrell.
Worrell said her husband, Andrew frequently walks or jogs the same three-mile route near the family’s Buckhead neighborhood.
“At about 8:40 Saturday morning, I was in bed with the kids when I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize, so I didn’t answer it,” she said. “Then the same number called again, and I answered because I had a feeling something was wrong.”
On the other end of the phone, Anne said she spoke with a stranger who was helping her husband following the shooting.
“It was a sweet lady who had stopped after Andrew flagged her down. Another guy who lived right there took his shirt off and used it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding," she said.
Atlanta Police responded and found Andrew suffering from gunshot wounds to the leg and hip.
Moments later, investigators said two more joggers were targeted nearby in the 800 block of West Wesley Road NW.
At the second scene, Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. of the Atlanta Police Department said no one was hit by gunfire. Thanks to witnesses, investigators were able to obtain a description of the suspect's silver sedan.
Hampton said nearly three hours later, around 11:30 a.m., officers received a call to the Collier Ridge Apartments along Noble Creek Dr. NW. There, officers located a man who had been ‘intentionally’ run over by a vehicle while taking out his garbage.
"Based on some ballistic evidence that was recovered from the vehicle, it also appears this may in fact be our suspect from the earlier shooting incidents,” said Hampton.
Police believe the suspect, who was immediately taken into custody, resides at the apartment complex. On Sunday they identified him as 22-year-old Gaelen Newsom and said he will be charged with attempt to commit murder, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
"We have information that he may have been suffering from some type of mental health crisis,” said Hampton.
Worrell said her family does not know the suspect. She is thankful for the quick actions of police officers and strangers.
“Though the crime in Atlanta has gotten much worse, it hadn't affected so many people so closely until today,” she said.