ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Police said a 26-year-old man was seriously injured following a shooting in southeast Atlanta Monday afternoon.

According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers responded to the 3000 block of Will Rogers Place around 3:48 p.m. after receiving reports of a person shot.

When officers arrived at the scene, they reportedly found the 26-year-old victim with multiple gunshot wounds in the wood line. Police said the victim was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police have not released information on what led up to the shooting and no arrests have been announced.

This is an active investigation. Check back with Atlanta News First for updates.

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Like some of the lucky filmmakers at Sundance, Atlanta may be in the running for a major win.

It’s been based in the resort town of Park City, Utah, since its inception in 1978, but growing financial and development concerns have led festival organizers to seek a new location. That announcement has been met with a slew of U.S. cities with strong cultural arts ties planning bids.

Now that includes Atlanta, according to Chris Escobar, owner of the Plaza and Tara Theatres.

“We’re throwing our name in the hat,” he told WABE on Monday. “They’ve got some things we have to do, some information we have to provide … it’s all about what commitment we can make.”

The annual film festival is considered one of the most prestigious and highly-attended film festivals in the U.S.

Escobar says the city is in the preliminary steps of seeing whether or not Atlanta officials will be invited for a request for proposal, a decision that is set to be made on May 6. He believes that Atlanta is more than capable of the opportunity.

“Atlanta is the perfect place,” said Escobar, who is also executive director of the Atlanta Film Society, which produces the Atlanta Film Festival. “This is one of the top production hubs in the world, and even before that, it’s already a creative place as we see through our vibrant arts and culture community.”

He said the city’s diverse talent and culture is in alignment with Sundance’s mission of showcasing marginalized artists.

“There’s literally no single place in the planet to be doing that and supporting that, fostering new voices,” he added.

While Atlanta does have a strong infrastructure, including Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and many hotel and tourism resources, Escobar admits that Sundance would be the first for the city as far as a culture and arts festival of its size.

If selected, arrangements may serve as a challenge to city officials, who did not respond to a request for comment before this story was published.

Escobar notes that while events like the Atlanta Film Festival and Atlanta Jewish Film Festival are popular with filmgoers, they bring in a small percentage of the city’s overall population.

“There’s always a lot of uncertainty sometimes when something that big moves into town, especially in the context like ours when philanthropic and public dollars for arts and culture can already be incredibly limited,” said Escobar.

“But I’m trying to be more optimistic and glass half full about this and maybe it will change the paradigm.”

If selected, Atlanta would begin hosting the festival in 2027, with the potential opportunity of a lucrative long-term contract with Sundance.

Escobar says it’s no coincidence that the decision for Atlanta’s bid will be made just one day after the final screenings at this year’s Atlanta Film Festival.

“It’s one of those crazy star alignments … almost a great little reminder, sort of like a little sample case, of what’s possible,” he said. “In my biased opinion, in the interest of Sundance, we are not only ready for it. We are the best place for it.”

Named after Academy-Award-winning director Robert Redford’s film institute of the same name, the Sundance Film Festival has gained notoriety for showcasing some of the most critically acclaimed independent films. Previous Sundance winners include the 1994 comedy “Clerks,” the 2009 drama “Precious” and more recently Jordan Peele’s Academy Award-winning thriller, “Get Out.”

It’s been almost two decades since Michael Vick was unceremoniously exiled from the Atlanta Falcons, ending a quarterback tenure in which a Black quarterback was the biggest star in America’s Blackest city. Since then, the Falcons have been without a Black franchise quarterback.

That may have changed on Day 1 of the 2024 NFL draft when the Falcons used their eighth pick on University of Washington phenom Michael Penix Jr. In a vacuum, this can be a major franchise pick for the team, but the circumstances surrounding the decision make it all the more dramatic … and unpredictable.

The Falcons entered the NFL offseason in desperate need of a franchise quarterback as the team has been foundering in that position since moving on from Matt Ryan in 2021. Things got dire for the team this past season as Desmond Ridder ended the year with 17 touchdowns and 24 turnovers, completing a full retreat from the promise of being a capable starter. The team ended up 7-10 for the third straight year, leading to the firing of its head coach Arthur Smith.

The team seemed to find its franchise quarterback in Kirk Cousins, a 35-year-old coming off of a torn Achilles tendon. His new contract: four years, $180 million – $100 million guaranteed. Cousins is supposed to be the end to the quarterback search, and the dynamic arm who would lift the offense full of weapons to a contender. His age and injury history meant that the Falcons were going to eventually need to find his replacement, but an eighth pick before Cousins has taken his first snap? That’s something else entirely.

Now, the Falcons have a situation in which two quarterbacks who could right the ship are now embroiled in controversy and maybe even a brewing quarterback battle. Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Cousins doesn’t have to look over his shoulder, but one can’t help but be reminded of the movie Any Given Sunday where upstart Willie Beaman came in and challenged the aging white quarterback’s spot.

For the Falcons’ sake, maybe this is a real-life saving grace in the way that we saw quarterback Russell Wilson come in and take over the starting role for the Seattle Seahawks as a rookie in 2012 after the team had signed Matt Flynn to $26 million. But for now, the decision to draft Penix who, like Vick is an athletic southpaw with a cannon for an arm, but who has his own severe injury history, has only attracted criticism.

The Falcons have spent the last couple of years flirting with the prospect of bringing in a Black franchise quarterback to troubling and confounding results. In 2022, the team was desperate to sign Deshaun Watson, who was coming off of an offseason marred by dozens of sexual misconduct allegations. That didn’t seem to matter so much to team owner Arthur Blank, whose dogged pursuit of Watson was no secret. Regardless, Watson went to the Cleveland Browns in an eleventh-hour move.

The next offseason brought the Falcons to considering MVP Lamar Jackson as a free agent, but this time Blank quickly shut that down in a now-infamous comment in March 2023: “Looking at it objectively, I’d say there’s some concern over how long can he play his style of game. Hopefully a long time … but he’s missed five, six games each of the last two years. Each game counts a lot in our business.”

Going all-in on a player with personal issues like Watson and passing on Jackson was always a nonsensical move, but only highlighted by the fact Jackson has since won an MVP and Watson has since missed 22 games. And that’s led the Falcons to this point, with an aging quarterback who has been blindsided by the drafting of a young, hotshot quarterback.

Drafting Penix like this won’t do him any favors, either. Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot has indicated that he’s willing to let the rookie sit for years.

“If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him,” he told reporters on draft night. “And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at that position. So, it’s as simple as, if you see a guy you believe in at that position, you have to take him.”

Sitting someone four or five years and believing in him seem incongruous, especially if that person is drafted so high in the first round. Every game that Penix sits will represent missed opportunity for Falcons fans. He represents a lost chance at a top pick who could make a difference right now — like, say, Rome Odunze, a dynamic receiver who was drafted with the very next pick.

If Penix does somehow beat out Cousins and earn a starting spot, he’ll also represent a black eye for a franchise that broke the bank for a quarterback who couldn’t even beat out someone who was projected to land in the second round just a month ago.

Right now, all Atlanta and Penix have are hope. Hope that this somehow figures itself out. Hope that he proves the shocked prognosticators wrong by being that franchise quarterback the city desperately needs. 

Culturally, he could signal a return of a generational Black quarterback to a city that has been primed for one since its last great Black hope was ripped from the league. Until then, Penix is going to represent potential and another reason for fans and pundits to question the franchise that drafted him.