The killing of a 28-year-old woman at an apartment complex in northwest Atlanta on New Year’s Eve was deemed justified, police said.
Atlanta officers were called around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday to the Reserve at Hollywood Apartments on Hollywood Road in the Scotts Crossing neighborhood. When officers arrived, they found the woman dead with a gunshot wound to the head inside a third-floor apartment, police said. She was identified as Sierra O’Neal by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
By Tuesday afternoon, police had classified the shooting as “a felon killed by private citizen,” which Atlanta police Sgt. TaSheena Brown explained means it was a “justifiable homicide.”
Authorities said the shooting happened during an argument over a man. Homicide Commander Lt. Andrew Smith told Channel 2 Action News that the dispute involved another woman, who called 911 afterward.
“It appears there was an escalating dispute between the two,” Smith added.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Four others, including a teenager, have been killed at the same apartment complex since early June, authorities said.
On Sept. 21, officers were called to the complex around 3:30 p.m. and found Chynna Oliver, 24, outside a building with a gunshot wound. They then made their way inside the bedroom of a nearby apartment, where Demarquis Yarber, 25, was also found shot in the head, according to an incident report.
He was still clutching a gun in his right hand, police said. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.
According to authorities, the gunfire, which started from a domestic dispute, damaged the bedroom wall and television of a neighboring apartment. The couple shared a child, but police have not publicly stated their relationship.
Three suspects are also wanted in connection with the shooting of 16-year-old Maurice Weems, who was found dead at the complex July 10. Police have not shared what led to the afternoon shooting, but the suspects were seen in security footage at the complex about two hours before officers responded to the scene, authorities said.
In an interview with Channel 2, Weems’ grandmother expressed regret for being at work and not being able to pick up her son, who had asked for a ride before the shooting. His maternal grandmother was previously strangled to death at the complex when he was just 9. Weems lived with her at the time and was the one who found her.
In early June, officers responded to an evening shooting at the complex and found 21-year-old Jacquez Harris dead behind a building. He had been shot several times, police said.
A 61-year-old woman was also arrested after she allegedly stabbed a 63-year-old woman in the arm at the complex during Memorial Day weekend.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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