He was the family comedian, adored by his mother and siblings. And Santos Wyatt loved two things: Cars and his young son.
“All he had been doing was working and taking care of his son,” Wyatt’s mother, Colandra Atkinson, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
On a Sunday evening in July, Wyatt went to the Sweet Auburn neighborhood just to hang out, she said. The Edgewood Avenue area, with restaurants and eateries, is a popular spot for Atlanta’s nightlife. But Wyatt was gunned down in a shooting that injured 10 others, according to police.
“He didn’t see it coming. He was just chilling,” Atkinson said. “They (investigators) let me know he was an innocent bystander.”
Wyatt never made it to the hospital, his mother said. Now, she’s raising her 8-year-old grandson, who has questions about his father she can’t answer. Atkinson wants all of those responsible to be caught. And even worse, she says the neighborhood where her son was killed was where she grew up.
“I wouldn’t wish this on nobody, no parent. I never knew how this felt. I’ve buried my parents,” she said. “To bury a child is a whole different thing. I don’t understand it.”
Wyatt had a love for cars and began working at a body shop as a teenager, sweeping floors while he learned from others, his mother said. He graduated from Martin Luther King Jr. High School in DeKalb County
But Wyatt wasn’t there to see his son start third grade, Atkinson said. She has put the boy in therapy to help him cope with losing his father. Atkinson created a GoFundMe page to help her financially.
Atkinson said she is speaking publicly now because she doesn’t want her son to be forgotten.
“Maybe I can prevent someone else from getting killed on the weekend,” she said.
The final weekend in July was an especially violent one in Atlanta, with several incidents concentrated in one neighborhood. Officers investigated four separate shootings on Edgewood Avenue that wounded 16 and killed one, according to data released by Atlanta police.
The Monday morning after the shootings, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and police Chief Darin Schierbaum held a news conference condemning the violence.
“We haven’t had a weekend like this in a long time,” Dickens said. “We know that summer months often bring some of the most challenging times when it comes to crime and gun violence in our communities, … (and) we are doing all that we can to prevent these tragedies even before they happen.”
The days leading up to that weekend were also violent, according to police. The rash of mid-summer violence injured a total of 27 people and killed two in 12 citywide shootings, Schierbaum said.
“When I look at what connected them, they played out throughout various parts of the city, but none (are) connected to the other, other than individuals had guns when they were angry,” he said. “This weekend, we saw individuals, who are angry about everyday common matters, pick up a gun and use it. It speaks to the work that needs to continue to be done.”
In early August, police said Rico T. Arnold, 19, was taken into custody during a Clayton County traffic stop and charged with one count of murder and 10 counts of aggravated assault. Arnold remained Monday in the Fulton County jail, where he was being held without bond.
Credit: Ben Hendren for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Hendren for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Investigators believe three others were involved in the shooting, but they have not been publicly identified and are not in custody.
“The investigation remains active and ongoing at this time,” an Atlanta police spokesperson said Monday.
Atkinson said she won’t feel safe until all those responsible for her son’s death and the other shootings are off the street.
The city pledged in the days after Wyatt’s death to increase patrols in the Sweet Auburn area and work to improve traffic flow, the mayor’s office said. Adding lighting in the area and cameras to the city’s network are long-term goals, the mayor and police chief said.
Still, Atkinson agrees with the police chief and says getting the guns out of the wrong hands is key.
“The neighborhood didn’t do it,” she said. “That’s a person that decided to wake up and do that.”
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