On Thursday, two children were rushed to the hospital after a shooting at an apartment complex in Georgia’s DeKalb County.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, “Officials with the DeKalb County Police Department have confirmed with FOX 5 that a shooting happened around 2 a.m. at the Artesian East Village Apartments on the 1400 block of Bouldercrest Road.”
“While police haven’t shared much information about the shooting, they have confirmed that the two victims were a 6-year-old and a 7-year-old,” the outlet reported. “Medics rushed the two children to a local hospital. At last report, they were in stable condition.”
Investigators reportedly believe that the suspect fired shots into the home before fleeing the area. The names of the victims have not yet been released.
The news comes amid an epidemic of children falling victim to gun violence in Georgia. According to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the number of children killed by gun violence in Atlanta in the first 11 months of 2022 was far more than the entirety of 2021, which itself was already a high number.
“In 2021, more than two dozen children and teenagers were killed by gun violence in metro Atlanta and several others were injured. That violence has continued in 2022,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “As of Dec. 4, there have been at least 71 children under the age of 18 shot. Of them at least 37 have died.”