“Put the guns down”: City leaders hold presser following shooting of young boy in south Columbus
Mayor Skip Henderson, Chief Stoney Mathis, and his command staff held a press conference Wednesday afternoon following the shooting of a six-year-old boy.
The shooting occurred shortly after midnight on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, along Tracy Street as the boy was playing with a toy truck in the driveway. The six-year-old boy was shot several times and was flown to Children’s Egleston Hospital in Atlanta. The boy is in grave condition.
Deputy Chief Lance Deaton with the department announced at the press conference, 22-year-old Makaliah Briscoe was arrested and charged with four counts of aggravated assault. More arrests are expected.
The press conference comes after a very deadly and violent 7 weekends in the fountain city, and a very brutal time for Violent Crimes investigators and police officers. Deputy Chief Deaton, while commending their work, announced a total of eleven murders, some of which were from past years and this year, have been cleared by investigators. Columbus has seen 14 murders so far this year, four less from 2023. While there are 17 homicides, one homicide is an involuntary manslaughter case, and two others are still a death investigation.
Deaton said, as he showed a past mugshot of Briscoe, “You never know who the suspects are going to be, you never know who is going to be responsible, but with tireless investigating this case has been worked and has brought some justice for the family.”
“You commit a violent crime in this city, we will find you, these investigators will hunt you down, they will develop the evidence to prosecute you and you will be prosecuted, and you’ll go to prison,” Deaton added. “I think It is also important for our citizens to know and understand that we can’t do this alone, our city leaders, the mayor, our council have been very gracious in funding a lot of technology initiatives with the RTCC, the increased manpower that we’ve seen in the last year, and tons of other technology assets that help us investigate crimes today, but even with all of that, we can not solve these cases and we cannot stop the violence in this city without the public’s help. We have got to have people stand up and it’s important that if you see something, if you hear something, that you say something.”
The department’s Deputy Chief of Administrative Services, Roderick Graham, then approached the podium to announce some of the latest and future resources to approaching and combating crime in the city of Columbus. One of the resources includes 20-25 people who are working every day in the community to help reduce crime as well as eliminate fear of crime.
“You are going to see a group of young men and women out there in the neighborhoods that will be very engaged in the neighborhoods going possibly from door-to-door, from time-to-time, seeking help, seeking information, and if you see those individuals out there as I already stated just share what you know, let us know what you know,” Graham said.
According to data regarding overall crime in Columbus, the city is seeing 15.88% reduction in crime that compares to last year. “With the community’s help and anyone else that wants to help, we feel really strongly that if we continue on a downward spiral with reducing crime in Columbus, we can make sure it is a safe city to live in, while also improving quality and life in the city,” Graham added.
Columbus Police Chief Stoney Mathis began his work at the department less than a year ago. Since he was selected as interim chief for the department, he has improved a number of things within the department, including morale, manpower, and several other things.
Today, a very passionate Chief Mathis began his section of the presser by saying, “I have to tell you I am absolutely sick and tired of my police officers and sheriffs deputies going out on the street every night to risk their lives and we continue to have these homicides. It’s got to stop. I know that we are down about 5 or 6 from last year. We are still about 15 more than I want.”
“So, I need your help as the citizens to talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends, if you have any of these young thugs out there with guns, you need to call the police department and let us put them in jail,” Mathis added. “We’ve got a great team with the sheriff’s office, with these deputies, but I’m absolutely tired of my officers getting called out every night for people shooting each other. Put down the guns, stop breaking into cars, and let’s make Columbus a safe community like it was in the past.”
If you have any information regarding any crime in the fountain city, call police at 706-653-3150.
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