Athens-Clarke County police have arrested a 14-year-old boy in connection with a recent shooting that injured two teenagers. The shooting was over a “denigrating social media post,” police say.
Officers took the juvenile into custody on May 27, three days after the shooting on the east side of town. The boy, whose name is not being released due to his age, was charged with four counts of aggravated assault.
The teenagers were wounded in the shooting on the afternoon of May 24 in the area of East Carver Drive and Cone Drive, police say. When officers responded to the scene, they found a 17-year-old male subject with a gunshot wound to his leg. A short time later, a 16-year-old male subject drove up to the scene with a gunshot wound to his upper back, says Athens-Clarke County Police Lt. Shaun Barnett. Both subjects were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“After investigation, ACCPD determined that a disagreement regarding a denigrating social media post led to the shooting incident,” Barnett says. “As the 16- and 17-year-old male subjects were riding in a vehicle in the area, they recognized the individual believed to be responsible for the social media post. A confrontation between the parties led to the gunfire.”
After the shooting, the boys quickly dispersed and police had been searching for the shooter since.
According to ACCPD statistics, there have been 77 shootings in Athens since the start of this year, compared with 38 shootings for the same time period last year. In those shootings, over 530 shots have been fired and 19 people have been wounded. There has been one murder in Athens this year.
