The early morning hours are always prime time for criminal activity, but Wednesday's spree of mayhem far exceeded the norm, with seven people shot -- two fatally -- in three separate incidents.
Six of the shootings, and both fatalities, took place at apartment complexes in DeKalb and south Fulton counties. A seventh person was wounded in a shooting in southwest Atlanta.
Officers responding to a 2:20 a.m. call about a domestic dispute at the Colony at Stone Mountain, a ramshackle apartment complex on Chatfield Drive off North Hairston Road, "discovered that multiple victims had been shot," DeKalb police spokesman Lloyd Ruffin said.
One victim, a man believed to be in his 20s, was killed, Ruffin said. Another man and a woman were taken to local hospitals in critical condition, he said.
Ruffin said officers located the suspect, who was holding two children and an adult female hostage near the incident scene. The suspect, whose name was not released, was taken into custody, he said.
The suspect, who was armed with a handgun, was charged with murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping.
Just before 3 a.m. Wednesday, a shooting at the Hickory Park apartments on Delano Road in south Fulton also left one person dead and two others wounded.
Police are looking for suspect Sammy Lee Roberts, 22, who is considered armed and dangerous, Fulton police Sgt. Scott McBride said. The identities of the man killed and the man and woman who were wounded have not been released.
McBride told AM750 and now 95.5FM News/Talk WSB that the victims knew the suspect and the shooting "appears to be part of an argument that carried over from another location."
In addition to those incidents, Atlanta police are investigating an overnight shooting that left a man in serious but stable condition.
Channel 2 reported that the man was shot near the intersection of Weyman and Ridge avenues in a southwest Atlanta neighborhood off University Avenue.
--Staffer Angel K. Brooks contributed to this report.
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