As of July 11, 106 people were shot over a 28-day period, marking a sharp increase from 40 people during the same period in 2019, according to data compiled by the Atlanta Police Department.
Victims who have died this month include 30-year-old Rudolph Johnson, a rising Atlanta rapper known as Lil Marlo, as well as an 8-year-old girl.
A spokesman for the southeast regional International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the Atlanta police union, didn’t respond to requests for comment. But the union has publicly stated that officers have stopped policing as aggressively, after what they see as an antipolice sentiment developed among local officials after the killing of Rayshard Brooks by an Atlanta police officer in a Wendy’s parking lot on June 12.
Sgt. John Chafee, a spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department, declined to address the causes of the increased violence, calling the recent surge in homicides “especially concerning to us,” and “something we will not tolerate.”
Meanwhile, political leaders have sparred over the question—and how best to respond to the violence.
– Sabrina Siddiqui in Violent Crime Surges in Atlanta Amid Rising Unemployment, Tensions Over Policing
Blame the Nationwide Surge in Shootings, at Least in Part, on the Minneapolis Effect
A Wendy's restaurant is demolished Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Atlanta. The resaurant was the scene where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed on June 12, 2020, by an Atlanta police officer following a struggle during a DUI arrest. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)