Suspect charged in wedding party shooting

Atlanta Journal | August 29, 2006

Debebe Abebe

DeKalb County police Monday charged a 37-year-old Debebe Abebe, suspected of opening fire on the wedding party Sunday night in a crowded restaurant near Clarkston.

The shooting occurred at Ledet, an Ethiopian restaurant in a small strip shopping center on North Indian Creek Drive.

DeKalb police spokesman Jason Gagnon said a wedding reception was under way when a gunman went into the restaurant about midnight and opened fire.

Five people, including the bride and groom, were wounded. The victims were all hospitalized in serious or critical condition, Gagnon said.

Members of the wedding party said Monday that they didn't know the shooter.

"We were dancing near the stage, me and my husband. The guy came from out of nowhere and started shooting us," said bride Mahehelosh Mangesto, 25. She was lying on the couch in her brother's house Monday with a bandage around her calf and her leg on a pillow.

"We don't even know this guy," she said. "I'm glad I'm not dead."