A woman was grazed by a bullet during an overnight shooting in Atlanta's Sweet Auburn district, and two men were taken into custody after officers combed the neighborhood and recovered a pair of handguns. The gunfire erupted around 3:49 a.m. near Jackson Street SE and Gartrell Street SE, according to police, sending officers and Grady EMS crews to the scene of a shots-fired call in one of the city's most historically significant corridors.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, Grady EMS personnel evaluated and treated the woman on scene for a graze wound, and she remained awake and alert throughout. Officers who responded to the shots-fired call said witnesses gave them a clear description of two men involved in the shooting, which helped investigators narrow their search of the surrounding area. As FOX 5 Atlanta reported, that search led officers to locate and arrest two men connected to the incident.
Suspects Identified as Barnes and Weems
Police identified the two men taken into custody as 22-year-old Damarcus Barnes, born in May 2004, and 18-year-old Demarcus Weems, born in October 2007. Officers recovered two handguns during the search that followed the shooting, per the department's account, and both men now face multiple charges tied to the incident. Police have not specified the exact charges filed against Barnes and Weems, and authorities have not released the trigger of the initial gunfire.
Investigators also have not determined whether the woman was the intended target of the shooting, and it was unclear whether Damarcus Barnes, Demarcus Weems, and the woman grazed by a bullet knew each other before the shooting. The investigation remains active, and no further details on a motive have been made public.
Legal Exposure Under Georgia's Assault Statute
Under Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 16-5-21, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is classified as a felony carrying a mandatory statutory prison term of between one and 20 years upon conviction, according to Justia Law. Georgia's law defines aggravated assault broadly to include discharging a firearm toward another person or using a device likely to cause serious injury. Separately, the state's permitless carry statute under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-126 allows lawful weapons carriers aged 21 and older to carry handguns in public without a license, though carrying a firearm during the commission of a felony remains its own distinct offense under state law.
A Neighborhood With Deep Historic Roots
The shooting unfolded within the Sweet Auburn Historic District, a 19-acre corridor east of Downtown Atlanta that the National Park Service designated a National Historic Landmark in December 1976. The district includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Part of a Broader Pattern in the Corridor
This is not the first shooting to draw attention to the neighborhood this year. Hoodline reported a 22-year-old shot near park in an early morning shooting near William Holmes Borders Drive NE, in which police did not immediately name a suspect. The broader area has also been the subject of recent law-enforcement attention.
Citywide, the picture looks different. The Atlanta Police Department's 2025 year-end public safety report, published in January, found that overall crime fell 7% during 2025 while the department posted a 77.55% homicide clearance rate. Still, a February data study by 33n analyzing Atlanta Police Department open data found that while overall violent crime in the city remains near historic lows, an uptick in aggravated assaults has driven recent short-term fluctuations in citywide violent crime statistics — a trend that underscores why incidents like Saturday's shooting continue to draw close scrutiny in historic corridors like Sweet Auburn.
