By Joe Johnson
A volley of gunfire shattered the early evening hours in a neighborhood in west Athens on Sunday.
According to Athens-Clarke County police, approximately 10 gunshots that were fired on Laurel Drive were possibly related to a domestic violence incident.
The incident occurred in Bel Air Heights, a neighborhood located off of Whitehead Road.
No injuries were reported, but bullets reportedly flew over the head of an elderly man who was lying on a couch in his residence.
Lt. Shaun Barnett, ACCPD’s public information officer, said that officers met with a female on Newton Bridge Road to investigate a domestic violence incident that is believed to have occurred at a residence in the 100 block of Laurel Dr. After meeting with the female victim of the domestic violence incident, officers went to the residence on Laurel Dr. to further investigate but could not find the male who was involved, he said.
When officers went to looking for the male on nearby Janice Drive, they heard about 10 gunshots coming from the area of Laurel Drive, Barnett said.
“Officers responded back to the original location of the domestic violence incident and located a scene consistent with a drive-by shooting,” he said. “There was an uninvolved elderly male inside the residence at the time but he was not injured.” According to Barnett, “Detectives are working to determine how, or if, the drive-by is related to the original domestic violence incident.”