Duntavius Pittman, 21, was shot and killed at a gathering inside a home in southwest Atlanta in late March 2016. The Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in Atlanta from 2007 through 2017, records his death on Saturday, March 26, 2016, and lists it as a homicide that remained open with no arrest. The Atlanta Police Department investigated.
Little of the original coverage survives in the material available for this account.
A WXIA news report was headlined "Man shot, killed at gathering in SW Atlanta home," and the memorial site Gun Memorial, citing the Gun Violence Archive, lists him as lost to gun violence on March 26, 2016. The Atlanta Police Department's own list of unsolved 2016 homicides gives the date as March 25, which suggests the shooting happened late on Friday night and he died early Saturday. How many shots were fired, whether anyone else was hurt and how he reached a hospital, if he did, have not been found.
After the year ended, the Atlanta Police Department released a list of all of its unsolved homicides from 2016 in response to an open records request from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Duntavius Pittman, 21, was on it. The list ran to 51 names. No suspect description, motive or reward offer connected to his case could be found.
His name appears in records as both Duntavius and Duntavious J. Pittman. Family and friends set up a GoFundMe campaign after his death, and an online memorial page has drawn dozens of candles lit in his memory. Beyond that, no obituary describing his family, schooling or work could be found.
A shooting at a gathering is, by its nature, one that other people witnessed or heard. Guests, hosts and neighbors who were at or near the home that night may know who was there, who arrived or left in a hurry, and what led up to the gunfire.
The location recorded in the Post's database places his death in west Atlanta toward the southwest side, well west of downtown, consistent with the news description of a southwest Atlanta home.
Atlanta, the capital of Georgia and the center of a metro area of more than 5 million people, recorded roughly 75 to 130 homicides a year between 2007 and 2017. Most victims in those years were young men, and most were killed with guns. Many of those killings never led to an arrest, and the Washington Post's 2018 investigation of unsolved homicides counted Atlanta among the cities with large numbers of them. The 2016 list of unsolved cases that included his name came as homicides were rising in large American cities that year.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Duntavius Pittman could be found in news archives or public records. More than 10 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was at the gathering where Duntavius Pittman was shot, or who heard talk afterward about who fired, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Atlanta Police Department Homicide Unit at 404-546-4235, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS (404-577-8477), which may pay a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest.
