By Joe Johnson
A home in the far eastern part of Athens-Clarke County reportedly was struck by gunfire Tuesday night, making it the fifth house in the county to be targeted in a drive-by shooting in less than two weeks. A sixth shooting last week involved gunfire from a vehicle that struck a pedestrian multiple times.
The most recent shooting reportedly occurred at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of Big Oak Circle, a side street off Morton Road that is not far from the Oglethorpe County line.
According to Lt. Shaun Barnett, responding officers found that the home was damaged by gunfire, but no injuries were reported. Officers recovered "numerous" bullet shell casings at the scene, he said.
The incident could be related to a spate of shootings that began 10 days ago.
"We are still working to determine motives in all of these cases, but detectives believe that it is possible that they could all be related.
The dates, times and locations of the previous shootings are as follows:
April 24 at approximately 2:50 a.m. in the 100 Block of Big Oak Circle;
April 25 at approximately 6:00 a.m. in the 100 Block of Lavender Lakes Drive;
April 28 at approximately 4:30 a.m. in the 100 Block of Heel Stone Avenue;
April 29 at approximately 2:50 a.m. in the 200 Block of Benedict Court.
“In each of these instances multiple rounds were fired and the houses were struck multiple times,” said Barnett, ACCPD’s public information officer.
At two of the locations, officers reportedly recovered a total of more than 60 bullet casings from both pistols and rifles.
In yet another shooting that involved a vehicle, a man was shot Thursday afternoon while walking along a roadway in northern Athens.
According to Athens-Clarke County police Capt. Christopher Nichols, the victim was walking in the grass along Danielsville Road between the El Primo Auto Sales and Martha's Cabins mobile home park when a car pulled up and an occupant opened fire on him.
The victim reportedly was struck multiple times and was transported to a local hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
Several detectives are working these cases and police asked for anyone with information about the incidents to contact Sgt. Greg Dickson at (762) 400-7070 or gregory.dickson@accgov.com. Dickson can then route the information to the appropriate detective.