Buckhead Bar Launches GoFundMe For Shooting Victim

ATLANTA, GA — The owners of the Anchor Down Grille on Piedmont Avenue in Buckhead have established a fund at GoFundme.com to help support funeral expenses for the family of a 25-year-old woman who died after a shootout early Saturday morning.

Police report Taylor Hayden, a resident of Houston, Texas, was shot on Piedmont Road about 4:50 a.m. Saturday when two groups of males began shooting at each other following an argument. Taylor was caught in the crossfire, suffered injuries to her arm and side and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she died.

Hayden, 25, was a recent graduate of Prairie View A&M and a management trainee with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. She was also the sister of state Sen. Jeff Hayden of St. Paul, Minnesota. Jeff Hayden is the deputy senate minority leader in the Minnesota legislature.

The owners of the restaurant, which opened a year ago, have established a GoFundMe.com account to help support expenses for the victim. Uche Nwaneri and Edawn Coughman, who are both veterans of the NFL and co-owners of the Anchor Down Grille, have launched the fund with a donation of $1,000.

“Edawn and I are heartbroken by the events that occurred outside our restaurant Saturday morning,” said Nwaneri, an offensive guard who played for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys. “When we started our entrepreneurial venture last year, we had high hopes of building a successful business and a safe environment for Atlantans to enjoy a good meal and a place to interact and enjoy the company of community friends. While this unfortunate situation did not happen inside our business, it did occur nearby and we feel terrible about the situation.”

“In these times of devastating shootings, it never occurred to us that such a tragedy would happen near our restaurant,” said Coughman, an offensive tackle who played for eight NFL teams. “People need to learn to settle disagreements without guns. We know this fund will not replace the loss of this wonderful woman nor console her grieving family, but we just felt moved to do something to help them out.”

Jeff Hayden, told a news reporter that Taylor "was a beacon of light in our family.”

See also:

• Woman Killed Outside Buckhead Bar
• Woman Killed Outside Buckhead Bar Was State Senator's Sister