Atlanta's serious crime wave spirals out of control as rapes increase by 236% and murders spike 43%


Crime in Atlanta is continuing to spiral out of control, with homicides on track to beat last year’s 30-year high of 158 murders.

According to statistics released by the Atlanta Police Department on Friday, homicides are up 43 percent compared to the same period in 2021, with 20 total homicides so far in 2022 compared to 14 last year. 

The Atlanta Police Department has said ‘irresponsible gun ownership’ has led to many of the shootings this year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after more than 2,000 firearms were stolen from vehicles in Atlanta last year.

Rapes are also up an astounding 236 percent, with 37 reported so far this year, compared to 11 at the same time in 2021.  Burglaries are also up 18 percent from last year, with 229 reported as of February 12 compared to 191 at the same time in 2021, and shoplifting cases are up 4 percent, with 164 cases thus far in 2022 compared to 157 last year. 

The rising crime pushed  residents in Atlanta’s wealthiest suburb to announce they planned to secede from the city last year, and even introduced a bill in Georgia’s legislature to de-annex the suburb.

The leader of the movement, Bill White, the CEO of Buckhead City Committee (BCC), said they wanted to create their own police department as crime skyrocketed throughout the area – where the average house price is $1.4 million. 

‘We are living in a war zone in Buckhead,’ White told Bloomberg Businessweek. ‘Shootings and killings, it just never ends.’

White, who officially filed to secede from the city in June, had slammed Atlanta city leadership, including Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, accusing her of ignoring the soaring crime and presiding over a demoralized and underfunded police department.

If the bill passed, White said he expects the new city of Buckhead to be up and running by June 2023, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. 

But earlier this month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, their efforts to secede from the city were quashed when both Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralson announced their opposition. 

Bill White, the CEO of Buckhead City Committee (BCC), led the movement for the wealthy suburb to secede from Atlanta

Bill White, the CEO of Buckhead City Committee (BCC), led the movement for the wealthy suburb to secede from Atlanta

The break would have harmed the city of Atlanta financially, as Buckhead would take around 90,000 citizens with it, which is approximately one-fifth of the population, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.  

Now, city officials are working to tamp down on the rising crime with new technology.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who was elected in November on his pledge to fight crime, has already pledged to install a combined total of 10,000 new streetlights, security cameras and license plate readers in the city, as well as hire hundreds of new police officers.

And police officials now hope a new camera integration system, called Connect Atlanta, will continue to help investigators.

Connect Atlanta, a network of more than 4,500 surveillance cameras across the city will allow officers to pull up footage on their cellphones and laptops before they get to the scene.

‘We’re moving from a video integration center to a real-time crime center,’ Chief Rodney Bryant said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

He said he hopes the new technology will make officers more proactive in addressing crime. 

Still, Atlanta officials are asking the public for help in identifying suspects wanted in connection with a fatal shooting at a car dealership on Saturday night.

The Dekalb County Police Department released surveillance photos of at least five suspects walking through the dealership's parking lot

The Dekalb County Police Department released surveillance photos of at least five suspects walking through the dealership’s parking lot

A security guard was shot and killed at the Courtesy Chrysler Dodge at around 11pm on Saturday night. He was later identified as 24-year-old Henry Ashley by his wife, Kyla Rushton, with whom he has a 4-year-old son.

Rushton said she was on the phone with Ashley when he got the dispatch call that someone was on the property of the dealership. She said he was shot in the back. 

The couple had a bad feeling about work that day, Rushton told WSB, and the two were discussing leaving the security business due to the rising crime.

‘I have to stay strong for my son,’ Rushton said, adding: ‘I hope whatever they wanted here was more important than his life. I hope they got what they wanted, taking a husband a son, a father, a brother so young.

‘We were planning on buying a house this summer,’ she said. ‘This was our first time we were able to do this and it all got ripped away in a matter of moments.’ 

No suspects have been arrested yet in connection with his murder, but the Dekalb County Police Department has released a still of security camera footage showing at least five suspects walking through the dealership’s parking lot. 

Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at (770) 724-7850.

Meanwhile, just a few weeks earlier, an acclaimed British astrophysicist was killed by a stray bullet as he laid in bed with his girlfriend at her Atlanta apartment.

Dr. Matthew Willson, 31, had been in the U.S. barely two days when, on January 16, he was hit in the head by a round fired amid a ‘rapid’ and ‘reckless’ volley believed to have come from an apartment complex less than 200 feet away.  

The Atlanta Police Department is now investigating the death as a homicide.

Matthew Willson, 31, an astrophysicist from Surrey, England, had just arrived in Atlanta to stay with girlfriend Katherine Shepard (right) when he was shot in the head by a stray bullet on January 16

Matthew Willson, 31, an astrophysicist from Surrey, England, had just arrived in Atlanta to stay with girlfriend Katherine Shepard (right) when he was shot in the head by a stray bullet on January 16

Willson was hit in the head by a round fired amid a 'rapid' and 'reckless' volley believed to have come from an apartment complex less than 200 feet away

Willson was hit in the head by a round fired amid a ‘rapid’ and ‘reckless’ volley believed to have come from an apartment complex less than 200 feet away

Atlanta police also reported earlier this month that they noticed that many of those who were apprehended for property crimes were repeat offenders, including four suspects who were arrested over the course of four days.

On February 1, FOX 5 reports, officers arrested Stephen Fortner after being called to the 1100 block of Murphy Avenue by security who heard voices and the sound of drilling. 

Fortner and a suspected accomplice were found with tools and copper wiring. They were charged with second-degree burglary, theft by taking and possession of tools during the commission of a crime.

The next day, Jeremy Taylor was charged with second-degree burglary when officers received a call from a hotel about a man trying to break into the bar’s cash register.

Security footage from the time showed Taylor entering the staff-only doors and trying to use a set of keys to open the register before stealing a can of beer.

Anthony Burgess was also arrested on February 3 by officers who say he matched the description of a peeping Tom, and on February 4, police charged Monte McCord with first-degree burglary, theft by taking and possession of a schedule II controlled substance. 

Between the four suspects, there were 155 prior arrests and 30 convictions. 

Four suspects who were arrested over the course of four days

Anthony Burgess

Four suspects were arrested over the course of four days earlier this month for property crimes, including Stephen Fortner, left, and Anthony Burgess, right

Between the four suspects, there were 155 prior arrests and 30 convictions

All of the suspects were repeat offenders

All of the suspects were repeat offenders, and between the four of them there were 155 prior arrests and 30 convictions. Pictured are Monte McCord and Jeremy Taylor

‘No matter our tenacity and/or our success in making these arrests, we are clear that we cannot arrest our way out of this dilemma,’ the Atlanta Police Department wrote in a subsequent Facebook post.

‘Police alone cannot fix the repeat offender of crime problem.

‘We arrest them, and we will take them to jail, but that isn’t enough.

‘The entire criminal justice system and the community must work together for change to occur,’ they wrote. ‘If not, the revolving door will continue to rotate, and the daily scene, which oftentimes looks and feels like Groundhog Dog will continue in perpetuity.’

The department added that it is nevertheless ‘undeterred’ and ‘will remain relentless’ in its ‘pursuit of lawbreakers’ and its mission to keep Atlanta safe.

To that end, the Atlanta Police Department met with other local agencies on February 16 to come up with solutions to keep the communities safe.

‘We’ve been talking about the same thing over and over again,’ a department spokesperson told FOX News, noting that they held the meeting so that the Atlanta Police Department could share information with bordering cities dealing with similar crime trends.

‘So we all just came together to talk about what we’re seeing, what are some of the solutions? What are some of the things another department is using that we may not have thought of?’ 

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