‘Something needs to be done about guns’: Albany residents call for action after 17-year-old shot to death

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Some Albany residents are pleading for people to put their guns down when it comes to deadly gun violence. This comes after a 17-year-old was shot in the chest and killed.

The neighborhood of Willow Wood Drive is full of cameras. Still, a fatal shooting found a way in. Creating fear and concern among its residents.

Residents said deadly shootings usually don't happen in their neighborhoods. — Residents said deadly shootings usually don't happen in their neighborhoods.(WALB)

“You can go out your front door and get killed,” said Bobbie Lunsford, a Willow Wood Drive resident

Around 5 p.m. on Friday, 17-year-old Keshawn Hunt was picking up his brother from the basketball courts when multiple shots were fired. The brother told police that’s when he and Hunt took off running toward a wooded area near the courts. Police found Hunt face down in a nearby ditch with a gunshot wound in his chest and right thigh. He died from his injuries.

“I heard two shots while I was in the shower,” said Robert Lewis, a Willow Wood Drive resident. “Once you follow those bullets, you can’t call them back. The damage is done.”

Caleb Brown, 18, has been arrested and charged with murder. This is the fith gun-related fatality in Albany this year — a major change from what Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler saw last year.

“One person going to jail. Another person is dead. So two families are distraught. We wish people would put the guns down. It’s getting worse and worse,” he said. ““It seems like there’s no safe place.”

That’s a community issue people said can be changed with the help of everyone.

The basketball court at Willow Wood Drive is left empty following the deadly shooting. — The basketball court at Willow Wood Drive is left empty following the deadly shooting.(WALB)

“I’m just scared for the children because they can’t play in peace without somebody fighting or somebody shooting,” Lunsford said.

Lewis said with proper gun laws, tragedies like this would be avoided.

“Young boys with guns in their hands, can’t lead to nothing but a tragedy,” he said. “Something needs to be done about guns. It’s falling in the wrong hands.”

Hunt’s family is asking for support during this time. Click here for more information.

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