A double shooting on Monday afternoon resulted in the death of a security guard outside the Honduran Consulate in Atlanta, with another person injured in the incident. According to FOX 5 Atlanta, the shooting occurred in a parking lot of a business complex on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Doraville. Doraville police received reports of the shooting at around 2:30 p.m. and upon arrival, found one person dead from gunshot wounds and another injured and transported to a nearby hospital.
Doraville police have taken a suspect into custody and are conducting questioning, as of yet, the suspect's name and specific charges remain undisclosed. The locksmith company IVS Security, which had staff working close to the parking lot when the shooting took place, described the scene as "scary," with owner Iftah Ben Sagi commenting on the rarity of such an event in the normally quiet business area, "I never saw anything like that before," he said, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
The security guard has been identified as 45-year-old Jesus Loera, a Mexican national employed by a security firm hired by the consulate. Described by Kiana Roe, a dispatcher at IVS Security Locksmith, as "a sweet and kind man," Loera was respected by business complex members, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The consulate was closed the following day, with the Honduran flag lowered to half-staff, and is expected to remain shut until Monday.
Witnesses stated that a confrontation ensued between Loera and the suspect, identified as Jose Emanuel Olmo-Rosado, before the shooting, and Loera was fatally shot after being pepper-sprayed by the guard, "Everyone is outside trying to figure out what happened, and then from that point, officers came, ambulance came," Roe recounted, articulating the pain in recounting the incident, in a statement obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Local and state officials are involved in the ongoing investigation, and the suspect now faces charges of murder and aggravated assault according to jail records.
Following the tragedy, the community has paid tribute to Loera, with acquaintances such as Josue Valdez, whom Loera had befriended a month or two ago, expressing their sorrow and highlighting Loera's role in protecting lives, "It’s really sad that’s the way he went out, but I’m very happy that he saved a bunch of lives from being taken," Valdez told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Memorial gestures such as lighting candles and placing flowers have been observed outside the consulate's main entrance.
