A 13-year-old boy was shot four times while asleep early Sunday at Capitol Vanira Apartments in the 900 block of Hank Aaron Drive SW, according to his mother. Atlanta Police say the boy was conscious when he was taken for treatment, and investigators estimate more than 100 shots were fired during the overnight gunfire.
The boy's mother told Atlanta News First that her son has already been released from the hospital and that she believes he will be okay. Police have not named a suspect or released any information about a motive, and the shooting remains under investigation.
At the scene, reporters counted more than two dozen police evidence markers scattered across the ground, and officers said they were examining additional nearby locations that could be tied to the gunfire, according to WSB-TV. Police estimated that more than 100 rounds were fired in the 900 block of Hank Aaron Drive SW.
A Complex With a Troubled Recent History
This is not the first time Capitol Vanira Apartments has seen a mass shooting involving children. In September 2025, four male victims — ages 18, 15, 14 and 12 — were all shot in the legs during a single evening incident at the same address, 942 Hank Aaron Drive SE, according to the Atlanta Police Department. All four survived after being hospitalized.
Months earlier, in May 2025, Atlanta Police investigated another non-fatal shooting at the same complex after a teenage boy suffered a gunshot wound to his leg and was treated at Grady Memorial Hospital, as Hoodline reported at the time. No suspect was immediately named in that case either.
The violence along this corridor hasn't been limited to the apartment complex itself. A 15-year-old boy was killed in a shooting beside the complex on September 26, and the Atlanta Police Department Gang Unit investigated that case, according to the seed reporting from Atlanta News First. A 3-year-old boy was also shot to death several blocks from the complex in April. Shanorria Wyche was fatally shot on June 24, 2023.
Affordable Housing at Capitol Vanira
Capitol Vanira Apartments is a family apartment complex managed by H.J. Russell & Company and has been described as affordable housing, according to Patch.
The corridor has also seen other recent emergencies unrelated to gang or youth violence. Just four days before this shooting, Atlanta Police arrested a driver on first-degree vehicular homicide charges following a high-speed crash at Hank Aaron Drive and Glen Street that killed a female driver, as Hoodline detailed in its coverage of a fatal Summerhill crash. That crash occurred amid ongoing roadwork tied to MARTA's $91 million Summerhill Bus Rapid Transit project, which is reconfiguring lanes and repaving Hank Aaron Drive SE to connect Downtown Atlanta to the BeltLine.
Crime Trends
The pattern of repeated shootings at this specific property stands in some tension with broader citywide data. Atlanta Police Department Zone 3 saw an overall crime reduction in 2024, according to statistics reported by Georgia Public Broadcasting.
No suspect has been named and no motive has been released in connection with the latest shooting. This is a developing story, and Atlanta Police have not indicated whether investigators have established any ballistics link between this incident and the prior shootings at Capitol Vanira Apartments.
