A northwest Atlanta man killed Friday in an early morning shooting was apparently not the victim of a stray bullet as police investigators initially thought.

The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Dahlia Avenue, Atlanta police Major Keith Meadows said.

Meadows told the AJC that the victim, identified as 22-year-old Fred Newkirk, was in a bedroom when at least 9 shots were fired. One of the bullets penetrated the window, hitting the victim in the head and killing him.

While detectives initially thought the victim was not an intended target of the gunfire, Atlanta police spokesman Otis Redmond said late Friday morning that investigators believe the victim was involved in an earlier altercation with several men at a club, and was followed to Dahlia Avenue, where men inside a vehicle began shooting into the home.

Police have made no arrests.

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Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez