Residents in the southeast Atlanta neighborhood of Peoplestown and adjacent communities have decried the rash of drive-by shootings in recent months and have called on the Atlanta Police Department to commit more resources to combat this terrifying crime.
There have been six drive-by shootings in the past eight weeks, which has shaken the community to its core.
“We have retaliatory shootings between groups of individuals. It is an ongoing investigation. I can’t get real specific, but we do know it is retaliatory,” Major Jeff Glazier with the Atlanta Police Department told WSBTV.
“We were in the room. We heard gunshots. That is the second time it has happened in the last few months,” said Marshall Dickinson, who lives close to where some of the drive-by shootings occurred, explaining to the station.
“I don’t like my girlfriend being here by herself,” Dickinson said, adding he wishes the police would do more.
Atlanta police say this is a top priority and they are deploying resources to stop the criminal activity.
“We’ve had a lot of different people looking at this. We’ve had conference calls every morning, we have executed search warrants, arrests warrants, made multiple arrests. We think we’ve slowed things down,” Glazier said, adding that the APD has held community meetings to keep residents abreast of the developments.