A weekend of fun, festivities, and togetherness during the 404 Day celebration turned deadly in Piedmont Park. A 16 year old girl was shot and killed hours after the event began and a 15 year old girl was wounded.
The victim has been identified as Tianah Robinson, a Riverdale resident and North Clayton High School student. Another 15-year-old girl was injured in the shooting, which happened several hours after the park hosted “404 Day” celebrations. The two did not know each other. The 15-year-old came to Atlanta from Norcross, Mayor Andre Dickens said. –11 Alive
404 Day has become an annual tradition in Atlanta’s Black community. The website for the event’s Piedmont Park event, which was the main hosting site for this year’s celebrations, describes the gathering as an event “Where Atlanta’s spirit shines brighter than ever”. Though the main event was hosted at Piedmont Park, celebrations for the day–whch sytrectehd into the weekend–took place all over town as partiers and fun-seekers traveled from across the metro and even other states to attend the various events taking place.
Many attendees and observers have likened 404 Day To Freaknik, the Atlanta-hosted block party that started as a college reunion but over the course of the 1990s, turned into a major, week-lomg event that drew hundreds of thousands of people to the city but was later forced into shutting down by then-local leaders.
This year’s 404 Day coincided with several shootings across the area. But in a Monday news conference discussing the tragic death of Tianah Robinson, Mayor Andre Dickens was careful to not blame the event for any of the shootings and instead pointed out that the city’s murder rate has not spiked.
The mayor also noted that an abundance of guns on the streets are the real problem, not events.
“They came to Piedmont Park just to have fun for the weekend,” Dickens said of the thousands who descended onto Piedmont Park and at events across the city, which were predominantly safe and peaceful.
“Let’s be honest, there are too many guns on our streets and in the hands of too many people that should not have them and too many places where they should not be,” Dickens said. He added he will request support from the City Council for additional resources for anti-violence programs and policies.
“Our concern is for the whole city, and the elimination of the root causes of crime for the entire city of Atlanta,” Dickens said.