A late-night gathering on Hailston Drive in Duluth turned fatal on March 29, 2017. Nineteen-year-old Shawn Anthony Lopes was struck in the chest by a single bullet after 1:30 a.m. Friends drove him to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, where he died later that afternoon.

Police say the person who fired the shot was 20-year-old friend Joseph Seung Min Park. Park told investigators he had removed the magazine from a handgun, believed it was unloaded, then pointed the weapon at Lopes and pulled the trigger; a round left in the chamber struck Lopes. Park turned himself in to Duluth police and was booked into the Gwinnett County Detention Center. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct, and two weapons offenses; an officer said a murder charge would have been filed if the act were judged deliberate.