New Year’s Weekend Rings In Four Shootings For Columbus Area
The cities of Columbus & Phenix City suffered no less than four reported shootings during the New Year’s Weekend, in addition to the Christmas Weekend shootings just one week ago. Here’s our interactive map with the details.
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An artistic expression of a gunman superimposed over a map of the Columbus, Georgia area. The map shows the locations of shootings that took place in both Columbus and Phenix City during the New Year’s Weekend from December 30, 2022 to January 1, 2023. The shootings left no less than four people wounded.
Image Credit:
Muscogee Muckraker
By
Muscogee Muckraker
Published
January 2, 2023
Updated
March 20, 2023 4:35 PM
ET

Residents may voice their concerns about the rise and spread of violent crime by contacting their respective city council members in both Phenix City and Columbus.

The cities of Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama both endured another violent string of shootings during New Year’s Weekend from December 30, 2022 to January 1, 2023. 

The weekend shootings have left at least four people wounded at the time of this article’s publication.

The shootings were as follows:

  1. Friday, December 30, 2022: A shooting occurred shortly before midnight near the intersection of Rigdon Road & 10th Street in Columbus, Georgia. It is unclear if anyone was wounded at the time of this article’s publishing.
  2. Friday December 30, 2022: A triple-shooting occurred shortly before midnight on Winston Road near Harbison Drive in Columbus, Georgia. Three people were wounded at the time of this article’s publishing.
  3. Saturday, December 31, 2022: A shooting incident occurred at the Farley Homes on Shepherd Drive between 18th and 19th Avenues. An estimated 30 shots were fired. It is unclear if anyone was wounded at the time of this article’s publishing.
  4. Sunday, January 1, 2023: A shooting occurred at ​​Meadowlane Park near the Calvin Spencer Recreation Center on 8th Avenue in Phenix City, Alabama. At least one person was wounded at the time of this article’s publishing.

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INTERACTIVE MAP

Note: View in landscape for optimal experience.

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The New Year’s Weekend shootings occurred on the heels of a separate string of Christmas Weekend shootings just one week ago, which left a total of three dead and an additional one person wounded; a victim has since passed away from their wounds since the Muckraker’s previous reporting of the incident.

Though the Fountain City may be ringing in a new year, violent crime continues to rise throughout the Columbus area at rates far outpacing other cities throughout the southeast region and the nation as a whole. 

With a population of roughly 205,000 people, the city experienced an unprecedented 70 homicides in 2021 at a rate of more than 34 per hundred-thousand residents. That rate was more than five times the national average that same year.

While homicides themselves decreased in 2022, the number of shooting incidents as a whole staggeringly increased. Columbus suffered roughly 200 shooting incidents in 2022. Roughly one out every thousand residents have literally taken a bullet over the past year in 2022.

With four more horrific shootings taking place during the New Year’s Weekend, current policy conditions set by city officials make it likely that the violence will continue to increase well into 2023.

The Muckraker continues to urge our readers to stay safe, remain vigilant, and to take care of each other. 

Residents may voice their concerns about the rise and spread of violent crime by contacting their respective city council members in both Phenix City and Columbus.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

-30-

© 2023 Muscogee Muckraker. All rights reserved.

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