MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb County investigators are at work investigating six homicides within a week. A seventh shooting left a man still in critical condition.
Now, county officials are responding to the string of shootings.
Three of those homicides happened in about two hours Wednesday morning.
One happened at Haven Inn & Suites, and the other two happened on an east Bibb County street, and a home near Eisenhower Parkway.
Mayor Lester Miller said crime is still down compared to this time last year.
"We've had a very quiet 2024. We wanna keep it that way for the rest of the year. But we do have these spurts that we have to deal with from time to time, and it's not — it's not unusual," Miller said.
He said what is unusual is the reason behind some of this week's shootings.
"One unique thing about these last several that we've had is most of those are justified. You won't see anyone charged in at least four of those because they acted in self-defense, or they're defending their self or defending property," Miller said.
Sheriff David Davis said they're still investigating, but he said two Tuesday morning shootings appear to be justified. In those cases, one man was shot while entering a car on Broadway, and a man was shot entering a home on Andrews Drive.
"That's what happened here. We had a little uptick and this does not seem to be the trend, and we hope that it doesn't continue to be the trend. Because we don't think any of this is any type of gang-related," Davis said.
A third shooting on Tuesday involved an employee wounded during a robbery late Monday. Two people have been arrested for the aggravated assault. Davis said the rest of this week's shootings appear to be targeted, not random.
"Those victims probably had some type of relationship with the person that did 'em harm," Davis said.
He said Macon is 19% down in violent crimes resulting in injuries compared to this time last year. He said the Macon Violence Prevention program, which targets the root of crime, has a lot to do with it.
He said the overall crime in Macon is also down 12% compared to this time last year.
The Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information about the shootings to contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500 or the Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.