Earlier this month, Mayor Kelly Girtz announced that, for the first time, Athens had made it through half the year without a single murder. “This has been a team effort with ACCPD, every community support organization, and every resident,” he posted on social media. “We continue to strive for improvements, but this is a huge accomplishment.” That does not mean, however, that Athens no longer has a gun violence problem. From 2021–2024, there were 436 shootings in Athens, wounding or ...
