It started Sunday morning, when a man allegedly shot and killed his mother's fiance. Later that day, in an unrelated incident, a man allegedly pushed a woman out of a window at an apartment complex, killing her.
That was just the beginning. Over the next 24 hours, DeKalb County police officers would respond to three more homicides — a total of five alleged murders in less than 48 hours.
Nothing suggests the homicides are connected, but it’s a troubling statistic for an area of metro Atlanta that has historically struggled with crime.
This month has seen an especially high number of homicides in the county, with DeKalb police responding to nine deaths so far. That does not include the case handled by Dunwoody police, where officials said a DeKalb County Schools teacher killed his boyfriend before dying in a crash in Clayton County.
So far this year, DeKalb police have investigated 24 homicides, which is in line with DeKalb’s crime numbers from the same time period in recent years, according to data compiled by the GBI. The Atlanta Police Department, the only police force in the state larger than DeKalb, has responded to 31 homicides this year, a spokesman said. The Gwinnett County Police Department has handled 10.
Notably, detectives have made arrests in four out of the five DeKalb homicides from April 14 and 15.
In a statement, the police department said its homicide clearance rate is over 96 percent, well above the national average of 61 percent.
Police have stepped up patrols in the areas where the homicides occurred.
“Our officers and detectives worked around the clock to solve these crimes and to bring those who committed the crimes to justice,” the statement said.
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Around 7 a.m. last Sunday, Victor Lynn Parson, 29, is accused of shooting his mother’s fiance twice in the chest after a verbal altercation at a home on Flat Shoal Parkway. He then allegedly drove to Knoxville, Tennessee, and shot a woman and a 2-year-old girl before hitting a teenager with his car during a police chase. He was arrested in Knoxville.
Sunday night, Mikle Allen Spann, 53, was arrested after allegedly pushing a 63-year-old woman out of a second-story window at an apartment complex on Concepts 21 Drive off Hillandale Road. The victim has not been identified, and police did not disclose their relationship.
The following morning, Monday, April 15, investigators were at the scene of a deadly shooting in South DeKalb. A man was found killed in a home on Lehigh Way, officials said. Two days later, they announced that Qamar Williams, an up-and-coming rapper from Ohio known as Q-Money, was wanted on a charge of murder in the death. He was arrested Thursday.
Two men are accused of fatally shooting a Stone Mountain man in the head at the Quick Stop at 1101 North Hairston Road at about 6:30 p.m. that day. Nestor Santos was found lying in front of the store with a gunshot wound to the back of his head, DeKalb police said. Police are still searching for the suspects.
About 90 minutes later, an 18-year-old allegedly shot and killed a man at another gas station in DeKalb. Kristopher Brown, of Decatur, is also accused of shooting two other people, who are in stable condition. The victim, who was found lying near a gas pump, was not identified. Brown was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
— AJC staff reporters Chelsea Prince and Zachary Hansen contributed to this report.
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