Police responded to a welfare check at an apartment in Atlanta and discovered five people shot dead, including a 5-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son, in an apparent murder-suicide.
According to an emailed statement from Lt. Shane Smith of the DeKalb County Police Department, officers rushed to the ghastly scene on Saturday soon before 7:30 p.m. They discovered the bodies of two young children, as well as a 43-year-old woman, a 32-year-old male, and a 26-year-old woman, who all seemed to have been shot. The victims have not been identified, and it is unclear which of them was the shooter.
“We are still attempting to notify the next of kin for everyone,” Smith informed the crowd. “Once done, we will be able to release the names.”
The DeKalb Police Department stated that investigators believe the homicides were domestic and that the residence where they occurred was located on the 2100 block of Vineyard Walk, which, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is an apartment complex named the Vineyards at Flat Shoals.
DeKalb County, Georgia’s fourth most populated, is approximately 20 minutes northeast of Atlanta.
The inquiry is ongoing, but preliminary evidence implies a murder-suicide. The specific relationship between the five dead is unknown.
According to the charity Violence Policy Center, murder-suicides are a “shockingly common form of gun violence in the United States,” occurring an estimated ten times every week. According to the institute, over 1,200 Americans commit suicide each year, with a firearm being used in nine out of every ten cases. Approximately two-thirds of all murder-suicides are committed by the victim’s intimate partner.
Authorities have not provided any additional information as of Sunday afternoon, and a DeKalb County PD representative did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
