Dublin Core
Title
Box 12, Folder 30, Document 19
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
B. MCDONALD DOSTER
1414 BouLEVARD LORRAINE, S. W.
ATLANTA 11, GA.
September 14, 1967
Chief Herbert Jenkins
Atlanta Police Department
175 Decatur Street, S. E,
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Mr. Jenkins:
I want to report an incident that happened Wednesday
night about 9:00 p.m., September 13, which occurred on Gordon
Road at the railroad underpass just west of the intersection of
Lynhurst in the event you wish to alert your patrolmen to events
of this kind.
My wife and I and friends had dinner at the Plantation
Restaurant in Marietta and were proceeding homeward through Access
Highway, Bolton Road by Fulton County Airport, Gordon Road, Lyn-
hurst, and Sewell to Cascade Heights.
When we approached the underpass west of Lynhurst, but
still some distance away, I saw five or so young Negroes sixteen
to eighteen years old, or thereabouts, standing on the right hand
side of the street at the abutment to the railroad bridge. They
were doing nothing that appeared to be out of the ordinary, but
were apparently were talking and having fun, Just as I became even
with them, we were startled by a terrific report which sounded as
though a gun had been fired inside the car. I had seen no one make
any move and no flash from an explosion was seen so assumed that
the boys had thrown a giant firecracker under the car where it ex-
ploded. There appearing nothing more serious at that time, I did
not stop but proceeded on homeward.
After visiting with our friends for an hour or two, my
wife and I went on home where we then examined the car because
someone had expressed an opinion that something struck the car,
which we did not immediately confirm,
Upon examination under light it is clear now that the
explosion was the discharge of a gun, and the car was actually
struck by the bullet and that from the trajectory the bullet came
B. MCDONALD DOSTER
1414 BouLEVARD LORRAINE, S. W.
ATLANTA 11, GA,
from overhead on the railroad bridge, from which someone must have
fired the gun,
The bullet, from directly overhead, was fired at about
a 40 degree angle, and it struck the left rear door window just
above the center. Being struck from overhead, the bullet merely
glanced off the glass and struck a curved portion of the metal door
at the base of the glass where the curve caused the bullet to ricco-
chet outward. The glass was not broken, but was scarred by the im-
pact’and the metal was not pierced, but was scored by the riccochet.
It is obvious that someone was making an attempt on
the life of some unsuspecting person who would drive under the
bridge. That person could have been me if the gun had been fired
a split second sooner and six inches to my right, where it would
have pierced the windshield directly in front of my face,
I saw no one on the bridge above, and having proceeded
as far forward as I had, I saw no flash, but the circumstances
were easy to read,
Very truly yours,
B. M. Doster
ec: Mayor-Ivan Allen, Jr.
City Hall
Atlanta, Georgia
1414 BouLEVARD LORRAINE, S. W.
ATLANTA 11, GA.
September 14, 1967
Chief Herbert Jenkins
Atlanta Police Department
175 Decatur Street, S. E,
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Mr. Jenkins:
I want to report an incident that happened Wednesday
night about 9:00 p.m., September 13, which occurred on Gordon
Road at the railroad underpass just west of the intersection of
Lynhurst in the event you wish to alert your patrolmen to events
of this kind.
My wife and I and friends had dinner at the Plantation
Restaurant in Marietta and were proceeding homeward through Access
Highway, Bolton Road by Fulton County Airport, Gordon Road, Lyn-
hurst, and Sewell to Cascade Heights.
When we approached the underpass west of Lynhurst, but
still some distance away, I saw five or so young Negroes sixteen
to eighteen years old, or thereabouts, standing on the right hand
side of the street at the abutment to the railroad bridge. They
were doing nothing that appeared to be out of the ordinary, but
were apparently were talking and having fun, Just as I became even
with them, we were startled by a terrific report which sounded as
though a gun had been fired inside the car. I had seen no one make
any move and no flash from an explosion was seen so assumed that
the boys had thrown a giant firecracker under the car where it ex-
ploded. There appearing nothing more serious at that time, I did
not stop but proceeded on homeward.
After visiting with our friends for an hour or two, my
wife and I went on home where we then examined the car because
someone had expressed an opinion that something struck the car,
which we did not immediately confirm,
Upon examination under light it is clear now that the
explosion was the discharge of a gun, and the car was actually
struck by the bullet and that from the trajectory the bullet came
B. MCDONALD DOSTER
1414 BouLEVARD LORRAINE, S. W.
ATLANTA 11, GA,
from overhead on the railroad bridge, from which someone must have
fired the gun,
The bullet, from directly overhead, was fired at about
a 40 degree angle, and it struck the left rear door window just
above the center. Being struck from overhead, the bullet merely
glanced off the glass and struck a curved portion of the metal door
at the base of the glass where the curve caused the bullet to ricco-
chet outward. The glass was not broken, but was scarred by the im-
pact’and the metal was not pierced, but was scored by the riccochet.
It is obvious that someone was making an attempt on
the life of some unsuspecting person who would drive under the
bridge. That person could have been me if the gun had been fired
a split second sooner and six inches to my right, where it would
have pierced the windshield directly in front of my face,
I saw no one on the bridge above, and having proceeded
as far forward as I had, I saw no flash, but the circumstances
were easy to read,
Very truly yours,
B. M. Doster
ec: Mayor-Ivan Allen, Jr.
City Hall
Atlanta, Georgia
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