By Joe Johnson
The teen who was killed Friday afternoon in east Athens was identified as 19-year-old Alijah Nelson of Stephens in Oglethorpe County.
Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jerry Saulters on Saturday said Nelson was fatally shot and he shot and injured an 18-year-old Athens male in what appeared to be a gang-related matter.
Nelson was said to be one of several gang members who were arrested in December during an operation by the Northeast Georgia Regional Drug Task Force and agents with the FBI Safe Streets Gang Task Force.
The name of the teen Nelson shot has yet to be released by police.
Saulters said the last he heard Friday night, he was undergoing surgery at the hospital.
Police previously said they responded to the shootout at about 4:45 p.m. to an area between Citgo at 145 Gaines School Road and the Goodwill store in the Willowood strip mall on Lexington Road.
Nelson had been killed and the other teen was transported by National EMS to the hospital with injuries that police indicated he was expected to survive.
The investigation is ongoing, and police asked for anyone with information regarding the incident to call 706-613-3330.
Perhaps it's time for a different mass incarceration - by the Lord.
Cue the comments about locking people up for life. Not one person will advocate for crime prevention, just mass incarceration. You can’t arrest your way out of the problem. We‘ve been trying it for decades, and it just doesn’t work.