Police Identify Teen Boys Killed In Atlanta Shootout Over Dispute On Social Media

Police have identified the two teenage victims fatally shot in a shootout near an Atlanta apartment complex.

Malik Grover, 14, and Justin Powell, 16, were pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday night.  

Three other minors were injured in the shooting, including an 11-year-old boy, a 15-year-old boy, and a 15-year-old girl. They were taken to a hospital and are expected to recover. 

Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said the shootout began as a dispute on social media and escalated to gunfire when one group of people showed up at the apartment complex with guns. 

“I hate being here talking about kids and gun fire. We just ask that parents know where your kids are, know what they’re doing, check rooms,” the deputy chief said. “There are just too many guns in the hands of our youth. Like I said several weeks ago, this should be a time that we are getting ready for the holidays, but we have at least two families that will be planning for funerals.”

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued a statement regarding the shooting on Twitter.

“Atlanta is a group project,” he said. “It takes every single one of us to counter this plague in our community,” the mayor said. “From City government, to our police, to our schools, to clergy, to parents and to young people themselves, we must pledge not to accept this violence as formal and do all that we can to end it.”

Two teens lost their lives and three other young people were injured in gun violence on Continental Colony Parkway yesterday.

Read Mayor @andreforatlanta's statement ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/sc7f8ri8Ca

— City of Atlanta, GA (@CityofAtlanta) December 18, 2022

The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing and law enforcement is asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers. Tips can be left anonymously.