ATLANTA — An arrest has been made in the Buckhead shooting that killed two back in May, one of which was a student at Albany State University, according to the Atlanta Police Department.
Authorities said Karanji Reese, 21, turned himself in on Wednesday. Reese faces murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to APD.
The shooting happened on Mother’s Day when a single shooter opened fire at the club and shot six people: 21-year-old Mari Creighton, an Albany State University volleyball player, 20-year-old Nakyris M. Ridley died, and four others were hurt.
Arrest warrants indicate that video from inside shows Ridley and the suspect got into a fight before the gunfire broke out. Reese is accused of “pulling out a gun and recklessly firing it” before he left the scene.
“Reese… knowingly and intentionally did shoot and kill Nakyris Ridley,” the warrant says. “In the process, Karanji Reese did shoot and kill… Creighton.”
The parents of Mariam Creighton, Juan Umberto Creighton and Tracey Easton filed a wrongful death suit last Tuesday, citing the club’s negligence. Creighton’s family says they’re still struggling to come to terms with her death.
“It’s been a rough day,” said Parker Miller, the family’s lawyer and member of the Beasley Allen Law Firm. “It’s incomprehensible what happened.”
“This should’ve never happened,” Miller said.
“They knew and could have absolutely utilized security measures to keep what happened from happening,” Miller said. “Officials want to shut it down, calling it a public nuisance.”
“We’re talking multiple shootings, multiple stabbings,” Miller said. “They know of or should have known about how dangerous this facility was.”
Creighton, a volleyball player and a biology major at Albany State University, was only one semester away from graduating.
In the meantime, The City of Atlanta and Elleven45 Lounge have agreed to a 60-day closure of the club. City officials were calling for the club’s closure after the recent deadly shooting. The club’s owners defended their safety record online and claimed it was being racially targeted. The nightclub also indicated it planned to enhance its security.
The owners and the city will meet again in early August to discuss the club’s future.
