ATLANTA — It’ was an unnerving revelation. 11Alive verified earlier this week the likelihood of being shot in Atlanta, is higher than in Chicago. But where are these shootings happening, how often, and where?
First, why is any of this important? We hear about a lot of shootings, but we want you to know exactly what’s happening in the city, where it's occurring, and the circumstances of these crimes. Questions come up when there’s a rise in crime and hopefully this data can answer some of those.
Data from Atlanta Police on all the shootings in 2021 were broken down by day of the week, month, locations, age, even the race of the victims.
It’s important to note, this information is based on whether a person was shot, not just a shooting overall.
Looking at where the shootings happened so far, the Downtown area has the highest victim county, with 23 people. Next is the Castleberry Hill neighborhood, with 11 victims. Midtown is in the top four with nine victims. Neighborhoods like Vine City, Campbellton Road, and Highland Terrace have five. English Avenue and Mechanicsville have four, with Buckhead Village and Old Fourth Ward have four.
If we look at the type of place, a residence or home is at the top with 38 percent. And if you’ve thought there’s been a lot of shootings on roadways this year, you’re right. It’s the second-highest instance of shootings where a person was injured or killed, at 20 percent. Bars and nightclubs come in at seven percent of total shootings.
Most of the shooting happened on Sunday, with 69. Saturday is close with 53, but every day showcases more than 35 shootings. {Thursday appears to be the worst day of the workweek, with 40 total shootings.}
April is the worst month so far with 78 shootings. March is close with 71 and May is third, with more than a week left in the month at the time of writing this article.
The victims are overwhelmingly in the 18 to 32 age group, with more than 50 percent of shootings victims falling in that age range. Seven percent of the victims were under the age of 17.
Finally, Black men are reported as victims at an overwhelmingly high rate. In total, 291 of the 311 shootings victims this year were Black, with 252 of all those shootings being Black men. Five were Asian women, and seven were white.