After another violent weekend and a deadly Monday morning left six people dead and others injured, Fulton County’s district attorney said she is sickened by the violence and urges action - including support for police.
“Let me say something really unpopular this morning. Our police need help,” Fani Willis said in a social media post. “Violent crime is out of control. It is completely unacceptable! People should be able to go to a pool party, shopping, to dinner and the club without fear of being killed.”
Crime has crept into every corner of the city, with the latest shootings happening everywhere from Buckhead on the north side to Sylvan Hills in the south.
In her statement, Willis said leaders must do more to ensure the safety of citizens, including providing support for “good officers keeping us all safe.”
Authorities have investigated 52 homicides in Atlanta so far this year, an increase of more than 50% from this time in 2020. Last year was a historically deadly one, when authorities investigated 157 homicides in Atlanta, the most in decades.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who recently announced she will not seek a second term, continues to cite a “COVID crime wave” and has formed a committee in hopes someone will have an idea to combat the carnage.
“Atlantans deserve and expect a safe community,” she said in a statement. “As our administration continues to put considerable resources towards ending this COVID crime wave, the Anti-Violence Advisory Committee will begin work this week to make additional recommendations to help improve public safety throughout our city.”
Bottoms announced the new committee earlier this month, after another string of shootings left a 15-year-old girl and 22-year-old man dead and others injured. Members are tasked with suggesting “what more we can possibly do” within 30 to 45 days, she said then.
Dean Dabney, who chairs Georgia State University’s criminal justice, didn’t need that long to render an assessment of crime in Atlanta.
“We’re in crisis mode at this point,” he said Tuesday. “This has been a gathering storm and we’re in a bad place. The structural factors are compromised. The criminal justice system is incredibly taxed right now.”
This past weekend was another busy one for Atlanta police. On Friday, two people were killed and at least four others were wounded during a 10-hour spate of shootings across the city. Three bystanders were injured Saturday after a fight that began at a Buckhead pool party and ended with gunshots at a nearby Home Depot parking lot. Early Sunday morning, four people were hurt when shots rang out in a parking lot near Atlanta’s Trap Music Museum. Four people were shot to death early Monday morning.
Willis promised severe consequences for violent offenders.
“Leaders must acknowledge the problem and quickly get to fixing it to make sure resources are in place to keep us all safe,” she said. “Our police need help.”
Turning the corner won’t come easily, Dabney said.
“We need more proactive policing,” he said. “At the same time we need repaired police community relationships. Politically, that’s a different needle to thread.”
