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An Atlanta teen promoting water bottles was killed over $10. A younger man was shot at a skate park. A toddler was gunned down on July 4. Their deaths have been among the many 157 homicides the Atlanta Police Division investigated in 2020, up from 99 in 2019 and probably the most in additional than twenty years. “It’s ridiculous that now, even throughout this pandemic, we obtained extra gun violence happening than ever earlier than,” stated Columbus Ward, an activist within the Peoplestown neighborhood, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s actually scary since you don’t know who’s going to be killed or who’s going to be shot or the place these photographs are coming from,” Ward stated. “It’s simply in all places.”
The lethal surge has residents and enterprise homeowners addled whereas police and metropolis leaders wrestle for options. “I’ve by no means been afraid to get fuel or go to the grocery retailer earlier than,” stated resident Agie Rutkowski. “Now, if it’s darkish exterior, I don’t exit.” “Cease minimizing our considerations by telling us that ‘crime is up in all places.’ Spare us from the lie that the regular outflow of our officers isn’t as unhealthy as it’s,” stated Metropolis Council member Howard Shook. “It can take so much to show this round. However right here, in descending order, are the three issues we have to start: management, some management, any management.” Former police investigator Lakea Gaither stated Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has “misplaced the arrogance of the officers.” An 18-year award-winning veteran, Gaither was one in every of 200 who give up throughout the yr. Many left after Erika Shields stepped down as chief in June after 0fficer Garrett Rolfe shot Rayshard Brooks after a scuffle in a parking zone. After Bottoms rapidly introduced that Rolfe had been fired and then-Fulton County District Legal professional Paul Howard introduced legal prices, a whole lot of officers staged an “blue flu” in protest.
