By Joe Johnson
Police were investigating two apparently related weekend shootings in an east Athens neighborhood.
Those shootings were not believed by police to be connected to a pair of other shootings this week on the county’s west side.
According to Athens-Clarke County police, the first incident was reported at 4:16 p.m. Sunday at a house on Dublin Street where about a half-dozen bullets were fired at the residence.
A dispatcher advised responding officers that a woman inside the residence was armed in self-defense, police said, and when officers arrived, they found numerous bullet holes in the front of the house.
The 42-year-old resident who had been armed told officers that at the time of the shooting there were four other people in the house, ages 12 16, 17 and 28.
Some of the bullets penetrated the house, with one passing through a living room wall and entering a bedroom where it struck a dresser, but no injuries were reported.
Several projectiles and spent cartridge cases were recovered by officers on the street outside, according to police, and one spent bullet shell was found under a bush near the front porch, which police said indicated that a shooter was very close to the house when firing a gun, or someone had returned fire at the suspects while standing on the porch.
None of the occupants of the house were able to provide suspect information or provide a possible motive for anyone shooting at the house, according to police.
About five hours later, at 9:38 p.m., police said that officers responded to another shooting in the 1600 block of East Broad Street, just around the corner from the Dublin Street house that had been shot at.
Officers met with the 54-year-old homeowner who said she was preparing dinner when she heard five to 10 gunshots outside, according to police, and upon looking out the window the woman saw two black males running up East Broad, shooting at each other.
A few hours later, the woman called 911 to report that her niece had pictures of one of the shooters, police said.
When meeting with an officer, the woman and her niece said that a male "had went on Instagram Live and stated that they were going to shoot them up again,” according to police.
When the officer asked the niece why the male would be shooting at someone, she reportedly replied that several years ago she had an altercation with a female who lived at the Dublin Street house that was shot at earlier in the day.
She also said that the female with whom she had the altercation and her friends were accusing (name redacted) of shooting at their little brother, who they call JR, according to the police incident report.
The East Broad homeowner reported seeing one of the males who was shooting outside her house get into a car occupied by a female and drive away.
The police report noted that the car fit the description of a car that was seen parked at the house on Dublin Street by officers who responded to the shooting at that location.
ACCPD Public Information Officer Lt. Shaun Barnett said that detectives believe the two eastside shooting incidents were related, but did not think they were connected to drive-by shootings that occurred Sunday and Monday on Lavender Road, which is on the county’s west side and where the same 21-year-old man was shot at while standing outside his house.