Clayton County homicides up 40% in 2021 vs. last year

Homicides in Clayton County went up 40% in 2021 compared to the same period last year, newly released statistics from the Clayton County Police Department show.

At least 52 people died from homicide this year as of Wednesday afternoon — a new one-year record, Clayton County police Chief Kevin Roberts said. Last year 37 people died from homicide. Most of those killed this year were the result of a domestic dispute or an argument between people who knew each other, Roberts said.

“Sixty-two percent of our homicides have a domestic relationship attached to them, either friendship or acquaintances,” he said.

Aggravated assaults also rose 22% in Clayton County, increasing to 1,291 from 1,056 in 2020. However, there was a 24% decrease in robberies — to 248 from 325 in 2020.

Among those killed in Clayton County was Henry Laxson, a field training officer with the Clayton County Police Department. Laxson was shot while trying to help a victim of a shooting at a home in Rex in late November.

Arthur Allen Gilliam is alleged to have fatally shot Laxson and killed two others at the Rex home before he was shot and killed by Clayton police.

Other homicides this year include the shooting death of a woman outside a gas station in Riverdale this past Sunday and the death in October of Cameron Bell Palmer after a domestic dispute in Forest Park.

Police said Palmer and Jalessia A. Brown got into a heated argument, which ended when Brown allegedly shot and stabbed Palmer. Brown, who fled the scene, was later charged with felony murder and aggravated assault, Clayton County police said.

JOHN SPINK/AJC 2021 Flowers and notes surround the patrol car belonging to Clayton County Field Training Officer Henry Laxson parked in front of the Clayton County Police Department in Jonesboro on Dec. 2. He was one of four people killed, including the shooter, in an incident days earlier in Rex, police said.