College volleyball player killed in Buckhead lounge shooting was celebrating niece’s birthday

Michael Seiden
·2 min read

Channel 2 Action News is learning more about one of the victims killed at a Buckhead nightclub over the weekend.

A fight led to gunfire inside the Elleven45 lounge. Mari Creighton, 21, was killed, along with another person, and four others were injured.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was in Henry County Monday where he spoke with Creighton’s family.

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“We never want her to be forgotten. We want whoever did this to be caught and we just want everyone to know how much she was loved,” Creighton’s sister, Telia Wheeler said.

As homicide investigators work to identify a shooter or shooters, Creighton’s family says they are trying to stay focused on what made her so special.

“Mari was very talented. She played volleyball, she did nails (and) she did hair,” Creighton’s sister, Tiffany Eason said. “She can build anything.”

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But over the weekend, family members say Creighton was out celebrating her niece’s birthday when a fight broke out inside the Elleven45 lounge in Buckhead.

Bullets started flying and by the time the gunfire stopped, Creighton was dead. Her niece, 22-year-old Taylor Holmes, was injured.

“She got shot in the leg, but she’s stable right now. But, I think they are going to keep her a few more days,” Eason said.

The shooting also killed 20-year-old Nakyris Ridley.

Investigators confirmed that three other people are still being treated for injuries. They’re all between the ages of 20 and 30.

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“I just wish people would stop shooting,” Wheeler said.

Creighton’s family says Creighton was not only successful as a college volleyball player at Albany State University, but she was also one semester away from graduating with a degree in biology.

“It’s just senseless. My sister was just out having a good time, and now our lives are just altered forever,” Eason said.

Channel 2 Action News is still trying to learn more about the other victims in Sunday’s shooting.

Ridley was featured in a story Seiden did back in 2022 after he was arrested and charged with a carjacking that ended in a high-speed chase with police.

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