ATLANTA — Seven reported shootings in 2021, five of the shootings deadly, all happened on metro Atlanta interstates - and they're all still under investigation.
Police have told 11Alive the shootings, with the majority taking place at night or in the early morning hours, are difficult to solve given the circumstances surrounding shootings on an interstate.
The first victim of the year was 31-year-old Ernesto Anderson Jr.
His sister Michelle Anderson described him as a baseball fan, car club member and said he cared for their parents as each battled cancer.
"I got a call from his girlfriend stating that he had got into a car accident," Michelle recalled of Jan. 4.
She said doctors and police later determined her brother was shot by someone while driving, causing him to crash on I-20 westbound near the Capital Avenue exit around 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 4.
Crimestoppers is now offering a $5,000 reward in the case and Atlanta Police are still searching for leads.
"The detective is excellent, he has been keeping us abreast about everything," Michelle said. "It is just the frustration about not having the cameras."
While there are cameras along Georgia interstates, the video is only live-streamed online by the Georgia Department of Transportation. Video from the cameras isn't recorded, offering little help to police when a shooting takes place.
After Anderson was killed there would be four more shootings on Atlanta area interstates through February 25.
"It is kind of an anomaly as to what has happened recently as far as on the highway itself. But we don't believe they're related," said Atlanta Police Major Eddie Smith following the fourth shooting of the year on an area interstate.
Then Friday morning, two more shootings took place.
Ernesto Anderson, victim in Jan. 4 interstate shooting
The first happened minutes before 2:00 a.m. on I-75 North near Mount Zion Boulevard, according to Clayton County Police. An officer described someone in a car shooting and hitting someone in a nearby truck.
The person in the truck was injured and taken to an area hospital, but their condition is unknown.
Then at minutes before 3 a.m. Gwinnett County Police responded to a shooting scene now being investigated as a homicide.
The shooting according to a Gwinnett County Police corporal happened on I-85 South near Jimmy Carter Boulevard.
Police identified the victim as Corey Detiege, from near Houston.
Detiege's manager confirmed with 11Alive he was also known as rapper Chucky Trill and said he had come to Atlanta to perform at an all-star-themed event on Saturday before the NBA All-Star Game Sunday downtown.
"Humble young man, very dedicated to music. He was really caring the torch for his dad," Chucky Trill's manager on Boneafied Entertainment said during a phone interview Friday.
Detiege's father is also a rapper from the Houston area and performed with the group Trinity Garden Cartel in the '90s.
"It's been senseless, to be honest with you," Michelle Anderson said of the series of shootings on area interstates.
Her family is now questioning all seven recent shootings, but especially the one that claimed their loved one, Ernesto Anderson Jr.
"He wasn't doing anything. He was en-route to work and his life was ended," she said.