In the summer of 2023, on the Fourth of July, a 24-year-old Black man named Chasin Homer was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Grove Adams Park apartment complex in southwest Atlanta. The incident occurred around 3:15 p.m. at the complex located on Delowe Drive. When Atlanta police officers arrived at the scene, they found Homer with gunshot wounds, and he was pronounced dead at the location.
Homer had only recently moved into the apartment complex and had expressed grave
concerns about its safety to his family. His sister, Taqueria Barber, recalled that he would frequently tell her about the persistent violence, including murders and burglaries, that plagued the area. He reportedly felt unsafe in his new home. The Atlanta Police Department's homicide detectives began an investigation and suggested that the shooting was not a random act but rather a targeted incident stemming from a dispute in the parking lot.
The investigation into Chasin Homer's death led to the arrest of two teenagers nearly two months later, on August 31. The suspects, aged 15 and 16, were taken into custody and faced serious felony charges. The charges brought against both teenagers included murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Additionally, they faced a misdemeanor charge for the possession of a firearm by a person under the age of 18.
Following the arrests, the 16-year-old suspect was transferred from a youth detention facility to the Fulton County jail. His younger co-defendant remained in a regional youth detention center in the metro area. The apartment complex where the shooting took place had a reputation for being a persistently dangerous location and was identified by both the city of Atlanta and Fulton County as a 'problem property' due to its history of chronic code violations and crime.
