A string of shootings across Atlanta left two men dead and three others injured as the holiday weekend got off to a violent start Friday.
The three unrelated shootings occurred within a 12-hour span between 7 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday, authorities said. Atlanta police have now investigated 56 homicides since the start of the year, but one of Friday’s shooting victims remain hospitalized in critical condition.
The spike in killings represents an increase of about 60% from this time last year as police and city leaders struggle to curb the surge of gun violence. A total of 157 people were killed across Atlanta in 2020 during what became the city’s deadliest year in more than two decades. At this rate, however, Atlanta is on pace to surpass last year’s homicide total.
Records show 39 people were killed in Atlanta through the first five months of 2020, though many residents remained at home early in the year amid coronavirus restrictions and a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has repeatedly referred to the surge in murders as a “COVID crime wave,” but the gun violence is showing no signs of letting up as Georgians continue getting vaccinated and the nation slowly emerges from the pandemic.
Bottoms announced earlier this month she will not seek a second term, and crime in Atlanta has become the central issue for the candidates vying to fill her seat this fall.
The most recent string of shootings began Thursday evening after an argument escalated to gunfire in a southwest Atlanta neighborhood, leaving one man dead.
The victim was found with multiple gunshot wounds when officers responded to the 2100 block of Larchwood Road about 7 p.m. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, authorities said. His identity was not released.
It was not clear who else was involved in the argument, or what they argued over. Investigators have not said whether they have identified any suspects in the case, which remains under investigation.
Three more men were injured early Friday and one was killed following two double shootings that occurred just four hours apart.
About 3 a.m., two men leaving a downtown hookah lounge were wounded in a drive-by shooting, Atlanta police spokesman Officer Steve Avery said. Officers responded to the Encore Hookah Bar and Bistro on Luckie Street and found a man with multiple gunshot wounds.
The man told police he heard gunfire as he left the lounge but never saw the person who shot him. Investigators believe the gunfire came from a passing car, Avery said.
While at the scene, police learned of a second victim who arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound. Authorities said that man was also leaving the bar when he was injured in the drive-by and that neither of the victims knew each other.
The downtown hookah bar was the site of one of Atlanta’s first homicides of the year. On Jan. 7, 29-year-old DeAndre Houston was killed while walking from the lounge to his car so he could charge his phone, police said previously. No arrests have been made in that case, but authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspects’ capture.
Four hours after Friday morning’s shooting, two men were critically injured in a hail of gunfire while standing outside in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood. The second double shooting happened just after 7 a.m. at the intersection of Chamberlain Street and William H. Borders Sr. Drive.
The victims, who appeared to be in their mid-20s, were struck multiple times, said Lt. Daniel Genson, the department’s homicide commander. It’s unclear what led to the shooting, but investigators collected about 15 shell casings that appeared to have been fired from the same caliber weapon, he told reporters.
Brenden Teeter told Channel 2 Action News he was walking his dog along Edgewood Avenue on Friday morning when he heard the gunfire. He immediately turned in the opposite direction and ran toward a nearby fire station. When he returned minutes later, he said he saw one of the victims trying to help the other.
“The other guy, he was obviously not doing so well,” Teeter told the news station. “He had gotten hit in the head.”
Police confirmed about 7 p.m. that one of the victims died of their injuries. The man’s name has not been released.
Investigators spoke with witnesses and are reviewing footage from nearby surveillance cameras to identify a blue sedan used in the shooting, Genson said.
All three shootings remain under investigation.
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