There have been more gun incidents since the report's release, and more since Johnson's Tuesday remarks to media.
One of the weekend homicides occurred in close proximity to City Hall, where Johnson gave his media briefing.
“This past weekend, we saw an unusual amount of gun violence in Savannah,” said Johnson. “We don't run away from stating that. It was an unusual weekend for us, and we certainly send condolences to the victims and families. Gun violence does not make sense. I'll also say, these were not random events.”
“People that were shooting were shooting at whoever they were shooting at. This is not acceptable to us.”
At 10:11pm on Saturday, Feb. 10, SPD officers from the second precinct (beat 27) responded to a shooting on W. Bay Lane and Barnard Street, only a few steps from City Hall. The victim later died at Memorial Health Hospital as a result of gunshot wounds.
The mayor said that SPD officers arrived at the scene quickly, and even before gunfire location services alerted the incident to police. Still, Johnson suggested a slower response from EMT personnel is a Chatham County issue to solve.
"We had officers that responded within 30 seconds to that shooting," Johnson said on Tuesday. "They actually heard the shots. All of our beats and all of our police were staffed, fully staffed. We had officers respond literally within minutes. As a matter of fact, the officers called in before the ShotSpotter report came in."
"There remains concern about the response of emergency medical personnel, and we continue to insist that the county address those issues and response times."
Just hours after the homicide near City Hall, at 1:40am, SPD responded to another shooting. It happened on Sunday, Feb. 11, so it did not appear in the department's crime report for the week ending Feb. 10. It did not result in a death.
[TRAVIS JAUDON]
SPD respond to an accident on Tuesday night, Feb. 13 in midtown Savannah
"Savannah Police Detectives are investigating a Feb. 11 shooting in the 1400 block of Walter Simmons Court that left one adult male with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound," said SPD in a press release. "The victim told police he was shot at from a moving vehicle."
The mayor noted a change in how people choose to settle disputes, or "beefs."
"We have a world in which people, unfortunately, decide to deal with their beefs and their grievances in a very violent way," Johnson said. "In Savannah or in Houston, or in other places, that often has very dangerous results."
In 2022-2023, Savannah went nearly 100 days without a homicide. The first gun homicide of 2023 wasn't reported until the first week of March.
"We have a safe city. We are safe, we feel safe. We are safe," said Johnson. "However, we live in a state where, for some reason, we want to continue to have guns everywhere. And so, we can't be surprised when guns show up everywhere."
The Chatham County Police Department (CCPD) releases its crime report each week on Thursdays. The report this week will include a Saturday morning homicide in the Georgetown neighborhood of Chatham County.
On Feb. 10, CCPD officers found a 29-year-old dead from gunshot wounds. The Chatham County Coroner identified the victim as Donta’Veous Sharrod Cockfield Marshall. It was later ruled a homicide, the second in unincorporated Chatham County this year.
“CCPD officers were called to the area of Brassler (sic) and King George Blvd. around 7:30am, where they found a deceased adult male who appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound,” the CCPD said in a press release. “Detectives were called, and an active investigation is ongoing.”
The gun violence in Savannah city limits continued on Tuesday. Two people were shot roughly one hour after Johnson's media briefing concluded downtown. A department release from SPD confirmed the midday southside shooting later on Tuesday evening. It confirms one of the victims died by way of gunshot.
That release can be seen below.
