Public Safety Briefs: Lenox Square shooting; crime prevention plan; stolen beer

Atlanta Police are searching for two men who shot a woman in the Lenox Square parking lot during an attempted robbery. According to CBS46, the 23-year-old woman was shopping at a jewelry store in the mall with her boyfriend and their child. When they returned to their car, they were approached by two suspects who demanded the woman give them what she purchased. Police say when the woman said she didn’t purchase anything, she was shot in the chest. The woman and her family tried to find a hospital, but are not from Atlanta and ended up pulling over at Benihana’s in Buckhead for help, according to authorities. The woman is in stable condition at Grady Hospital. 

There have been 57 murders this year in the City of Atlanta, and Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta Police Department are implementing a new plan to reduce the rate. Reed and Police Chief George Turner announced the Summer Operation Action Plan in partnership with the ATF, FBI and GBI to address the sudden spike in guns and violent crimes. The action plan includes Operation Whiplash, which calls for the creation of a task force that Reed said would “dramatically increase resources to respond and investigate gun-related violent crime in our city,” according to the AJC. Reed said more officers and targeted patrols would be assigned to crime-ridden neighborhoods. 

Most of the 78,000 bottles of beer stolen from SweeWater Brewing Company have been recovered, but officials said the bottles would be destroyed and recycled in case of possible contamination. According to a report at 11Alive, two trailers containing 20 pallets of SweetWater’s Variety Packs were stolen directly from the brewery on Ottley Drive prior to a morning pickup on June 21.