Macon leaders react to weekend shootings that left 4 dead, 9 injured

Macon-Bibb County leaders decried a string of eight shootings that happened over the weekend as senseless violence, with reactions ranging from sympathy for the families of those injured and killed to calls to action .

The shootings, which authorities said were unrelated to each other, largely took place within a few miles of each other in west Macon and left four dead and nine injured.

The incidents throughout Saturday and Sunday involved road rage, domestic violence and other motives that were still under investigation as of Monday, the sheriff’s office said.

Officials speak out against violence, offer condolences to families

Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller condemned the violence during an interview with WGXA Monday evening and promised to work with the sheriff’s office to arrest and prosecute those responsible for the shootings.

“Like everybody in our community, we’re concerned with the recent violence we’ve had,” Miller said. “These are people’s families, their loved ones, and right now they’re grieving.”

Macon-Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones acknowledged the grieving families in a post to his Facebook page.

“And just like that, four families are grieving, four families have lost loved ones,” Jones wrote early Monday.

More than 150 comments under the post expressed similar feelings.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office extended sympathy to the family and encouraged unity as authorities continue to investigate the shootings.

“I’m asking our citizens to stand together, support the families impacted and share any information that can help us ensure safety and peace in Macon-Bibb County,” said Bibb County Sheriff David Davis. “We are strongest when we stand together.”

Shootings prompt call for policy changes

Some local leaders also called for policy changes to prevent future violence.

District 3 Commissioner Stanley Stewart proposed extending Bibb County’s curfew, which forbids anyone under 16 from being out between midnight and 5 a.m. Stewart’s extension would raise the age to 17 and extend hours from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“I’m trying to roll back those numbers with the violence that’s happening here among young people,” Stewart said in a video announcing the move on his Facebook page. “We’re working — I’m working — on this wholeheartedly.”

To make it onto the agenda for the commission’s next meeting on March 17, Stewart said, the measure will need four other commissioners or the mayor to sign on.

The Macon-Bibb County Democratic Party released a statement on their Instagram Monday evening, calling for policy changes that will support youth and increase transparency around violence prevention programs.

“We cannot keep calling press conferences, offering thoughts and prayers, and then returning to the same conversation with no measurable change,” the statement said. “If public dollars are being spent in the name of violence prevention, then the public deserves transparency. We deserve to see the data. We deserve to know what’s working, what’s not, and why.”