Man injured in 9th shooting in same downtown Athens location over past year

By Joe Johnson

A man reportedly was shot in downtown Athens over the weekend.

He was shot in the same area where eight others have been injured by gunfire over the past year.

According to Athens-Clarke County police, the most recent shooting occurred early Sunday morning in the area of East Clayton and North Jackson streets.,

While officers were investigating, they were notified that a 20-year-old man had arrived at the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, according to police.

“l Initial information indicates that the individual’s injury is related to the discharging firearms heard by officers in the area of Clayton Street and Jackson Street,” police said.

The intersection of Clayton and Jackson is the same area where, in September 2021, 21-year-old Pharoah Devonell Williams of Athens allegedly shot and injured seven people in what police called a gang-related incident.

He and four other alleged members of the Blood Trey Nine street gang were subsequently indicted on multiple aggravated assault, firearms, and criminal street gang activity charges.

They allegedly shot at members of a rival gang, the Roadrunners, which is affiliated with the Gangster Disciples, according to the indictment.

The other shooting in that area occurred in August of this year, police said, when a 17-year-old Winterville resident was shot by another teen.

After the shooter was arrested near the scene, police said, he was found to have a pistol in his waistband, and a loaded AR-15 rifle and two stolen handguns in his car, along with $916 in cash and a small bag of marijuana.