Atlanta homicides on the decline, drop below 100 for first time since 2019
Santos Wyatt loved two things more than anything: his young son and working on cars.
After a long weekend of work in July 2025, Wyatt went to Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood to hang out. He never made it home.
Wyatt was gunned down in a shooting that injured 10 others, according to police. He was 27.
Thanks to eyewitnesses and camera footage, the community helped Atlanta homicide investigators quickly arrest a suspect, police said. That type of assistance from citizens — combined with the department’s targeted fight against guns, gangs and drugs — is paying off, Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum said Tuesday.
Wyatt was one of the city’s 98 homicide victims in 2025, the first time in six years that number has been below 100, according to the department.
“No one is going to be given free ride to commit crime in Atlanta,” Schierbaum said at a Tuesday afternoon meeting with members of the media.
Atlanta detectives investigated 99 homicides in 2019 before those numbers began to climb, following nationwide trends of crime increases during the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to cases of police brutality. By 2022, the city’s homicide numbers reached a 25-year high at 171, Schierbaum noted.
Ending 2025 with a 23% drop in homicides from the previous year is the result of working together to fight crime, along with help from communities and technological advances, Atlanta city leaders say.
But more work is needed, including efforts to fight conflicts that escalate to violence, Schierbaum said.
“We can’t be in every living room and every place where actions may turn into mayhem and someone has quick access to a gun,” the chief said. “But what we can do is start attacking the things at our privy, which is illegal gangs, drug operations and illegal possession of guns.”
More officers on the way
A city the size of Atlanta, which often hosts major sporting events and other festivities, needs plenty of officers to keep citizens safe. Increasing staffing is a goal of the police department, which currently has 200 active recruits, Schierbaum said.
The current staff recently hit 1,840 officers, and nearly 200 more would be ideal, the chief said. The addition of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which faced intense opposition before opening in April 2025, and other pay incentives have helped attract recruits, Schierbaum said.
His officers took 3,003 illegal guns off the street last year, bringing the total to 12,821 confiscated in four years, according to Schierbaum. That’s fewer guns in the wrong hands, he emphasized.
Overall, all crime is down 7% in Atlanta, the chief said this week. The number of aggravated assault cases was up last year, but fewer people died from those assaults than in 2024.
The downward trend in crime, to levels not recorded since before the pandemic, was seen in many U.S. cities, including Atlanta, by midway through 2025, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. By July, the national drop in homicides was around 17% compared with mid-year 2024, with Atlanta outpacing that average, the council reported. The agency’s complete analysis of 2025 homicide data has not been released.
But for the families of homicide victims, any deaths are too many and more needs to be done.
“They’re still shooting,” Colandra Atkinson, Wyatt’s mother, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s not fair you can’t just go out and make it back home.”
Hardworking father among the victims
The summer months historically can be violent in Atlanta.
The final weekend of July was especially tragic, as officers investigated four separate shootings on Edgewood Avenue that wounded 16 and killed one, according to data released by Atlanta police.
Wyatt just wanted to hang out and relax after finishing work on a Sunday evening, Atkinson said. The Edgewood Avenue area, with restaurants and eateries, is a popular spot for Atlanta’s nightlife.
While there, Wyatt was shot to death, and investigators later told Atkinson her son was an innocent victim, killed just two streets away from where she grew up.
“It could’ve been more than just Santos,” Atkinson said. “It could have been all of them that got killed.”
Atkinson thought she was done raising kids. Now, she’s the sole provider for her 8-year-old grandson.
Wyatt’s absence was particularly hard during the holidays. He was the family comedian and his laughter was gone.
“It’s not the same. It affects everybody,” Atkinson said. “He went to a bar and never came back.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who made combating violence a priority when he took office in January 2022, spoke at a news conference in the wake of Wyatt’s death.
“We haven’t had a weekend like this in a long time,” said Dickens, who was sworn in for his second term earlier this month. “We know that summer months often bring some of the most challenging times when it comes to crime and gun violence in our communities … (and) we are doing all that we can to prevent these tragedies even before they happen.”
Officers quickly arrested a suspect in Wyatt’s case.
Closing homicide cases remains a priority for Schierbaum’s department. In 2025, detectives made arrests in 77.5% of the cases, outpacing the national closure rates (61.4), the chief said.
Slowing pace of homicides a positive sign
The homicide count dropped for the third straight year. Detectives had investigated 126 homicide cases in 2024, down from 137 in 2023. In 2022, Atlanta police investigated 171 homicides, slightly up from 161 and 157 during the previous two years.
The drop is a good sign for Atlanta, according to Ernesto Lopez, senior research specialist for the Council on Criminal Justice. He studies crime data for many U.S. cities.
“It’s not as low as we’re seeing in some other cities. But it doesn’t negate the fact that (Atlanta) has brought down homicides by a lot,” Lopez told the AJC. “It’s possible that since the city hit its peak a little later (than other cities), it may take longer to see an even longer drop.”
Since taking office, Dickens has worked to expand programs targeting young people, providing them paying jobs and recreational activities to get them off the streets.
The Atlanta Police Foundation has opened three At-Promise centers since 2017, serving more than 2,000 people ages 12 to 24. A fourth center is set to open later this week. The centers offer youth opportunities for recreation, education and job training.
“We have statistics that show the drop in crime around our At-Promise Centers, but as we see the drop in youth being involved in crime, being victims of crime, the At-Promise Center is key to that,” Schierbaum said at a summer event.
Shootings involving children, either as suspects or victims, have declined in the city, he said.
But on a June evening, a 12-year-old boy playing outside became an innocent victim of gun violence. Ja’Nylen Amir Greggs, who loved eating and playing basketball, had just finished sixth grade.
Schierbaum said that shooting, like so many others, began as a conflict between two groups at the Hidden Pines apartment complex on Cushman Circle in southwest Atlanta. The following day, investigators made an arrest.
Maj. Peter Malecki, the commander over major crimes for the police department, said the community is vital in solving cases. Many businesses and residents have registered their cameras with Connect Atlanta, giving detectives an advantage.
“We really could not do this without the integration of video,” Malecki said Tuesday. “It really makes a massive difference.”
Though many cities across the U.S. are reporting declines in homicides, the numbers are still high in many areas. Lopez said Atlanta may see continued decline in the coming years.
“There’s never going to be zero homicides, especially in a large city like Atlanta,” he said.
