Homicide detectives are investigating after a man was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds Friday morning along a southwest Atlanta road.
It is the third deadly shooting Atlanta police have investigated within a 5-mile radius in the past week. Three other men were killed in separate shootings on nearby Campbellton Road on Tuesday night.
Investigators do not believe any of the shootings are related.
The latest death was reported about 2 a.m. Friday in a tree-lined stretch of Kimberly Road near Melvin Drive Park. Officers responded to a report of a person down and found the victim dead at the scene, according to police spokesman Officer Steve Avery.
He was later identified as Matthew William Lloyd, 46.
“There is no suspect information at this time and the victim has not been identified,” Avery said in a statement. “Homicide investigators are working to determine the circumstances that led to the incident.”
It is the 141st homicide case for the city this year, the most since 148 killings in 2003. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has said the rise in crime is concerning but follows similar trends in other major cities across the country.
New data released Tuesday by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice shows homicide rates are on the rise in 21 cities, including Atlanta. According to a study by the commission, violent crimes rose sharply in late May and June and remain elevated over 2019 levels.
While they have fallen from their summertime peaks, research shows homicide rates have increased 34% in September and October compared to the same two-month period last year.
Police have not announced arrests in the earlier homicides this week on Campbellton Road. They occurred within a span of two hours Tuesday at locations on either side of I-285.
In the first, an exchange of gunfire at the Life at Greenbriar apartments left one man dead and another injured, police said. The slain victim was identified by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office as 20-year-old Damion Oliver.
In the second, two men were found lying dead in a parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. They were identified as Andre Majors, 29, and Hermon Gibbs, 32, according to police. The circumstances surrounding that shooting were unclear.
All three southwest Atlanta shootings remain under investigation.
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