A person was hospitalized after being shot Tuesday night at the Budget Inn & Suites on Memorial Drive in DeKalb County. The extent of the victim's injuries has not been disclosed.
Shooting Reported at Longtime Trouble Spot
According to Atlanta News First, police confirmed the shooting took place at the motel located at 3403 Memorial Drive. The outlet reported that the victim was hospitalized following the shooting, though officials have not released further details on their condition.
The address has a documented history of violence stretching back years. In March 2020, a 20-year-old woman was fatally shot inside a room at the same Budget Inn & Suites while her 3-year-old daughter was present, a case that led to felony murder charges against her boyfriend, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pattern of Violence Predates This Week's Incident
The property's troubles go back even further. In January 2018, a woman was abducted from her room at the motel while her 1-year-old child was left behind, then beaten and stabbed before escaping along a nearby road, as reported by Action News Jax. And in October 2016, former DeKalb County chief of staff Jeff Breedlove was arrested at the same Budget Inn & Suites after falsely telling police he was being held against his will and admitting he owed an alleged crack dealer money, an incident he later described as his rock bottom with crack cocaine addiction, per The Champion Newspaper.
An unconfirmed incident was reported at 3 Memorial Drive.
A Corridor Under Scrutiny
The motel sits along a stretch of Memorial Drive that DeKalb County officials have already flagged as a public safety concern. In April 2025, the DeKalb County Police Department set up a high-visibility Special Operations checkpoint along Memorial Drive near Candler Road, explicitly designating the corridor as a high-traffic, high-crime area requiring targeted enforcement, according to county officials cited by DeKalb County Government. Those same officials reported that countywide homicides had fallen by nearly 49% compared to the same period in 2024, crediting multi-agency proactive policing initiatives for the drop.
Violence at budget lodging facilities elsewhere in the county has drawn serious legal consequences in recent weeks. In September, a DeKalb County judge sentenced a woman to life in prison plus 10 years following a fatal 2025 parking lot assault at a Decatur motel on Flat Shoals Road, as Hoodline previously reported. A similar pattern played out in July 2018, when a triple shooting at another motel operating under the Budget Inn name on Gus Place in Decatur left one person dead and two injured, according to WSB-TV.
Open Questions Remain
DeKalb County also rolled out a short-term rental ordinance in May requiring lodging hosts to obtain county licenses, designate 24-hour local contact agents and adhere to local nuisance standards, per county officials. It remains unclear whether that regulatory framework has previously applied to or been enforced at the Budget Inn & Suites property. Police have not identified a suspect or motive in Tuesday's shooting, and the current condition of the victim has not been released.
