An 18-year-old gunman wounded five people at a home in northwest Atlanta on Sunday morning before killing himself, according to the Atlanta Police Department.
Officers responded just after 10 a.m. to a residence on Adkins Road in the Fairburn Heights neighborhood. Officers found five people – ranging in age from 33 to 3 – suffering from gunshot wounds.
Deputy Chief Charles Hampton said during a morning press conference that all the victims were transported to area hospitals and are in stable condition.
“The suspect in this case is an 18-year-old male who is deceased on scene from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Hampton said. “There was some type of ongoing dispute domestic in nature inside the home that escalated to the gunfire.”
The suspect’s relationship to the victims is known to police, but Hampton said he wasn’t ready to release that information.
Five other people have been killed over the holiday weekend so far, and Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said there was a common theme: people who know each other getting into arguments and using a gun.
“We’ve seen two acquaintances in a fight, an uncle killing his niece over unpaid rent, and two roommates in a dispute over drugs,” Schierbaum said. “We’re standing here on a sunny Sunday morning where we see a theme of anger, intimate relationship between individuals and a gun has led to tragedy.”
“This department will continue to hold drug dealers accountable, gang members accountable, individuals that are running guns in our city,” Schierbaum continued. “But we cannot be present in every living room and in every setting of a home where we need others to be able to intervene to stop violence from occurring.”
Earlier this morning, a valet was shot and killed after confronting a suspect breaking into a car at a Piedmont Road parking deck in Buckhead.