Police say 24 people have been shot in 21 incidents across Savannah over the last month.
“We are very upset that (the shootings) have taken place, and we are doing everything we can possibly do to work at finding the suspects or perpetrators responsible for them and to prevent them from happening in the future,” interim Savannah-Chatham police Chief Julie Tolbert said Tuesday afternoon.
Two of the 21 shooting incidents, on July 18 and July 30, were fatal.
Here's a look at all 21 shooting incidents.
“One arrest was made in one of the homicides, and we’re pretty close to arresting someone in the second one,” Tolbert said.
Police said some of the incidents were attempted robberies and that investigators believe three were accidental self-inflicted gunshot wounds. In 11 of the cases, police say, investigators have learned victims and suspects knew each other.
“These are not random shootings,” said Maj. Richard Zapal, who oversees the department’s Patrol North. “They don’t just happen. There’s usually a reason behind them, and it’s a culture we’ve got to change.”
Three of the incidents have drug connections, and three arrests have been made. Three additional arrests are pending, police said.
In several of the shooting cases, victims have refused to cooperate with investigators, police said.
“Six of (the) victims refused — not just didn’t want to cooperate — refused to cooperate with the police department,” Zapal said. “They’ll either handle it themselves or they just don’t like the police department. There’s one that happened at 800 E. Gwinnett St. ... that the victim lying on the ground actually told the other witnesses in the area, ‘Don’t say nothing to the police.’”
Police say that makes it hard for them to identify suspects in many cases. Additionally, Tolbert said, people have not been calling in to CrimeStoppers with anonymous tips about the shootings.
“Our officers nonetheless are working extra hard to pinpoint locations where these shootings are occurring to prevent them from occurring in the future,” Tolbert said. “But that’s a real challenge because you never know when someone’s going to take out a gun and use it against another individual.”
Police have increased presence in some areas of the city that have seen a spike in violence recently, she said. Two initiatives, Quick Reaction Force and Code Blue, are underway.
With Code Blue, normally plainclothes officers wear traditional police uniforms in public as a show of force, said Michelle Gavin, department spokeswoman. The Quick Reaction Force, which began July 25, puts more officers on the streets in areas and at times data has shown crimes are occurring, Gavin said.
On July 21, Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson said City Manager Stephanie Cutter and Tolbert are working on a program called Operation Ceasefire that will use private and public resources to intervene in the lives of people most likely to commit a violent crime.
Tolbert on Tuesday said police are still in the process of gathering the resources necessary to implement the program.
Tolbert said the back-to-back nature of the shootings over a short period of time has not been typical over the past few years. Usually, shootings are more spread out, she said. In June, there were 18 aggravated assaults with guns reported, according to metro police crime statistics.
She said police do not believe the shootings to be connected.
“It is spread out and we have put extra patrol on the streets to address this,” she said. “But again, it’s very difficult when you don’t know when it’s going to happen.”
MAKE THE CALL
Police ask anyone with information on any of these shooting cases to call CrimeStoppers at 912-234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637) using the keyword CSTOP2020. Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.
A confidential tip line is open directly to investigators at 912-525-3124.