Peach County man killed in 21st fatal police shooting of 2024 in Georgia

A Peach County man was shot and killed by Warner Robins police officers Monday night in the 21st fatal shooting involving law enforcement in Georgia this year, the GBI said.

Mikhal Anthony Concepcion, 20, of Byron, died after he was hit during an exchange of gunfire with the responding officers, the GBI said. The state agency opened an independent investigation into the shooting at the request of the police department.

The fatal incident marks the 21st such investigation conducted by the GBI in 2024, down from 26 fatal shootings at this time last year. By mid-August 2023, the GBI had already investigated 64 shootings involving law enforcement. This year, only 51 shootings have been investigated.

Few details were released about Monday night’s incident, but according to the GBI, officers were called to a home on North Sixth Street in Warner Robins in regards to a man with a gun. Police made contact with Concepcion, and he fired at officers, the GBI said. Concepcion then fired at a house and tried to force his way inside, according to the state agency. The responding officers returned fire, hitting Concepcion.

The suspect was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the GBI said. The state medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy.

The slower pace of law enforcement shootings mirrors the trend of falling violent crime in both Atlanta and the state in the past 2½ years after an explosion of violence in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread anti-police protests that followed George Floyd’s murder.

The number of homicides in Atlanta, which are closely tracked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, jumped from 99 in 2019 to 157 the next year.

Violent crime kept rising after the pandemic, with the number of homicides increasing to 161 in 2021. That year, the GBI investigated 100 shootings involving law enforcement.

The violence peaked in 2022 , when Atlanta recorded 170 homicides and the GBI investigated 112 police shootings. The trend finally reversed in 2023, with the number of Atlanta homicides dropping to 135. City leaders touted even steeper declines in other types of violent crime, though Atlanta police did record an increase in property crime like shoplifting and auto theft.

The GBI investigated 103 shootings involving law enforcement last year, and the pace of such incidents has further slowed in 2024.

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