The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More shooting plague city's streets
Six wounded in five separate violent incidents in six hours.
Atlanta’s surge in gun violence continued for the second consecutive weekend as police investigated five shootings across the city within a span of six hours.
Six people were injured in the separate shootings between 11 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Saturday, Atlanta police spokeswoman Officer TaSheena Brown said. No fatalities were reported. In addition to those five shootings, another occurred overnight in neighboring Brookhaven, and two more in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.
The incidents come amid repeated warnings from city officials hoping to curb the rash of shootings, and an increased police presence as out-of-towners flocked to Atlanta for the NBA All-Star weekend.
Public pressure on officials continues to mount over a surge in violent crime. The Atlanta Police Department investigated 157 homicides in 2020, up from 99 in 2019 and the most in more than two decades. Homicide victims include a 7-year-old girl shot while riding in a car with her mother and aunt after an evening of Christmas shopping in Buckhead and an 8-year-old shot while riding in a car with her mother on the Fourth of July in South Atlanta.
This weekend’s first shooting occurred shortly after 11 p.m. Friday outside Bulldogs, a bar on Peachtree Street in Midtown.
All five shootings remain under investigation, authorities said.
According to police, a parking lot attendant was shot multiple times when he noticed several men breaking into a car and confronted them. Following the shooting, the gunmen sped away in a silver sedan. No arrests have been made in the case.
A similar shooting occurred nearly two hours later when a man approached a group of people he said broke into his car outside a restaurant on Cheshire Bridge Road. The man, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital after being shot in the arm.
About 1:30 a.m. Saturday, officers were called to Emory University Midtown Hospital after a man was dropped off with a gunshot wound to the buttocks, Brown said. Investigators aren’t sure where that man was when he was shot, and the investigation is ongoing.
The fourth shooting of the night stemmed from a minor wreck along Piedmont Road near the Buford Spring Connector. Police were called to the area about 2:40 a.m. and found a man who had been shot in the leg. A second victim appeared to have been grazed by a bullet.
“Preliminary investigation revealed the shooting was the result of a dispute from a minor traffic accident that occurred moments earlier,” Brown said. Following the shooting, the shooter hopped into a white Audi and drove away before police arrived.
The final overnight shooting appeared to be the result of a domestic dispute, police said. Officers were called to an apartment building in the 800 block of Peachtree Street and discovered a man with a gunshot wound. A woman was taken into custody at the scene, but police have not released her name nor said what prompted the shooting. It wasn’t immediately clear Saturday whether she has been charged.
All five shootings remain under investigation, authorities said.
In neighboring Brookhaven, authorities are investigating a triple shooting that left three bystanders injured overnight as they left a nightclub along Buford Highway about 4 a.m. Saturday. None of the victims were from the area, and the men appeared to be in town for parties associated with the NBA All-Star weekend, police said. All three are expected to survive.
Brookhaven’s bars and nightclubs typically stop serving alcohol by 2 a.m., but the City Council voted last month to extend pouring hours during the All-Star weekend.
More Saturday afternoon
After the string of overnight shootings, at least two more were reported in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.
About 2:20 p.m., officers responded to the 3000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive after receiving a “person shot” call, Brown said. When they arrived, officers located a man with a gunshot wound to his ankle. He was taken to the hospital. Police said it appeared someone fired shots from a dark-colored sedan before fleeing the scene.
About an hour and a half later, officers were dispatched to the 1000 block of Peachtree Street and found a man with a gunshot wound to his leg. Police detained another man at the scene, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he has been charged.
For this NBA All-Star weekend, the Atlanta Police Department has stepped up its presence and is working with the fire department, health officials and building inspectors to monitor restaurants and clubs to ensure they’re operating under COVID-19 safety protocols.
The agency had extra horse patrols out in the city center. CNN Center remained closed to visitors while tourist spots such as the College Football Hall of Fame were reporting typical Saturday afternoon business.
During the day it seemed as if Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ appeal to visitors to stay away from Atlanta had a chance of holding. But police were bracing for what would come once darkness fell in Buckhead, Midtown and other nightspots.
No fan events from NBA
Jarvis Black and his friend Terry Krider arrived from Charlotte on Friday to participate in the weekend’s festivities and visit friends and family. They were staying in a downtown hotel and said they were out late Friday night. They visited several clubs, although some were full and the pair couldn’t get in. Still, they had a good time and plan to stay through the weekend, they said.
“It wasn’t as busy as a normal night in Atlanta,” Black said.
None of the events are affiliated with the NBA.
The league said Wednesday there would be no fan activities, ticketed events or hospitality functions as part of the All-Star Game weekend because of coronavirus concerns.
Last weekend, a string of shootings across Atlanta left one person dead and 11 others hospitalized within a span of just over 13 hours, officials said.
Though none of those incidents were related, city officials said the cause of the violence is the same: an inability to appropriately handle conflict.
“The number of people who lack conflict management skills, and who opt to take a life, risk going to prison and abandoning their family and their freedom, too often over trivial things, is shocking,” Atlanta police said in a statement following last weekend’s shootings. “The Atlanta Police Department has always been committed to reducing crime and keeping our streets safe, but police cannot be arbitrators for every argument.”