Two men are in custody after a shootout in Atlanta among suspected gang members. What makes the shooting odd is that the two men who allegedly started the violence arrived at the scene with two .40 caliber handguns, and a Walmart bag filled with loose bullets.
According to police, Traekwuan Steele, 20, drove Sidiamond Stills and Mario Burke to a neighborhood not far from where the new Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium is being built. The trio then pulled up on a group of men, one of whom is suspected of being a gang member in the crime-plagued Atlanta neighborhood known as “The Bluff.” The group started fighting and gunfire soon erupted. Steele was shot twice in the back and crashed his car into a house as he tried to flee. The group soon dispersed but Steele was critically injured, Stills and Burke hid their weapons and a bag of bullets and then went back to check on their friend. They were later arrested when police arrived on the scene.
Steele is recovering at Atlanta’s Grady Hospital and tragically may be paralyzed because the bullets went through his spine. Stills was in the Fulton County jail on a charge of aggravated assault. His bond is set at $25,000. Burke was released from jail March 12 on a bond of $26K. He was charged with carrying a weapon without a license and aggravated assault.
The area was made famous by the independent film, Snow on Tha Bluff. Filmmaker Curtis Snow described the community to rolling out, “The Bluff is a neighborhood where everyone is one-track-minded. It’s right around the corner from downtown Atlanta, Georgia Dome, and Centennial Olympic Park. The people there are surviving and barely making it. The B.L.U.F.F stands for you ‘Better Leave, U [you] F—ing Fool.’ If you’re coming to get something, just get it and go.”
