A 16-year-old boy was found unresponsive in a driveway Sunday night, a gunshot wound ending his life before midnight struck in Bibb County.
Why It Matters: Another young life lost to gun violence leaves a family grieving and a neighborhood searching for answers about what happened in their streets.
What Happened: Deputies arrived at a home in the 5000 block of Soldad Court just before midnight Sunday after someone called about a shooting.
The teenager was lying in the driveway, unresponsive. Emergency crews tried to save him. Deputy Coroner Richard Robertson pronounced him dead at the scene. His family has been told.
What We Don’t Know: Investigators with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office are still working to figure out what led to the shooting. No arrests have been announced. No suspects have been named.
The Context: The shooting marks another violent death in Macon, where gun violence continues to claim young victims. The boy’s name has not been released.
Teens & Guns in Georgia:
• Firearms were the leading cause of death for Georgia youth (ages 1–17) in 2022. CDC and Johns Hopkins data confirm firearms surpassed car crashes and other causes among 1–17‑year‑olds in 2022.
• Georgia averaged 205 firearm deaths per year among children and teens (ages 0–19) from 2018–2022. According to EveryStat’s analysis of CDC WONDER data, that five‑year average included roughly 66% homicides and 28% suicides.
• Among these 205 annual deaths, more than two‑thirds were homicides. That breakdown equates to approximately 135 homicides and 57 suicides per year, on average.
• Georgia’s youth gun death rate rose 56% from 2013 to 2022, compared to a 36% national rise. This increase is driven mainly by fatal firearm homicides.
• In 2022, Georgia had the 8th‑highest gun homicide rate overall, and firearm deaths (including youth) were trending upward.
📞 What You Can Do: Anyone with information can call the Bibb Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500 or Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68-CRIME.
The Sources:
- Bibb County Sheriff’s Office
- Bibb County Deputy Coroner Richard Robertson
- Macon-Bibb E-911 center
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
