Police said the gunman remained at large Wednesday after the victims were found shot in the Cooks Landing subdivision.
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Two teenagers died after being shot Tuesday night in a South Fulton neighborhood, and police were still searching Wednesday for the person who opened fire in the Cooks Landing subdivision near the 4200 block of Fortune Point.
The shooting quickly became one of the city’s most serious violent crimes this year, drawing a public response from the mayor and an overnight investigation that stretched into Wednesday morning. Authorities said the victims were both teens, taken from the scene to a hospital after officers arrived around 8:25 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. By the next morning, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office had identified them as 16-year-old Jamauri Smarr and 14-year-old Jeremiah Carter. Police had not announced an arrest, a motive or how the gunman got away.
Officers were called to the subdivision Tuesday night after reports of gunfire, according to police accounts released by local news outlets. When they reached Fortune Point, they found two teenage boys with gunshot wounds outside a home in the neighborhood. Emergency crews rushed both to a nearby hospital, but neither survived. The first public reports described the victims as injured, but police later confirmed both had died. By Wednesday, investigators were still processing the scene and trying to piece together the events that led up to the shooting. Local television footage from overnight coverage showed police activity clustered along the residential street while officers worked under crime-scene lights. Authorities did not say whether the shooting happened in front of witnesses, whether the teens were targeted, or whether they knew the shooter. Officials also did not say how many shots were fired or whether more than one weapon was used.
Investigators appeared to focus part of their attention on a white sedan that was seen being towed from the scene as officers continued gathering evidence. Police have not said whether that car belonged to one of the victims, a witness or a suspect, and they have not publicly explained what role, if any, it may have played in the case. They also had not released a suspect name or description by Wednesday. That left major questions unanswered for relatives and neighbors trying to understand what happened in a subdivision better known for quiet streets than major crime scenes. South Fulton police said only that the investigation was active and that officers were working to identify the person or people responsible. In a statement issued early Wednesday, Mayor Carmalitha Gumbs called the killings a devastating loss and said city leaders were in direct contact with police commanders and the director of public safety. She said officers were committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice.
The case unfolded in a city that has often promoted its public safety record while also facing the same pressure as other metro Atlanta communities to answer fears after high-profile shootings. Gumbs addressed that tension directly in her statement, saying the deaths were painful for the city while also insisting South Fulton remains one of the safest cities in Georgia. For residents, though, the details of Tuesday night’s violence gave the case a different weight. The victims were 16 and 14, an age difference that underscored how young both boys were. Their deaths also turned what began as a late-night breaking news alert about two injured teens into a homicide investigation by daybreak. The location added to the shock. Cooks Landing is a subdivision, not a commercial strip or nightlife district, and neighbors waking up Wednesday were confronting questions about how a double shooting unfolded in a residential setting. Police had not said whether the boys lived in the neighborhood or were visiting when they were shot.
As of Wednesday, the investigation remained in its early stages. No charges had been announced, and police had not said whether detectives believed one shooter or multiple people were involved. They also had not publicly discussed surveillance video, witness interviews or ballistic evidence, though the length of the overnight scene suggested a broad evidence search. In cases like this, investigators typically work through dispatch records, medical timelines, shell casings, vehicle evidence and door-to-door interviews before deciding whether to issue warrants or identify suspects publicly. Here, officials were more cautious, releasing only basic facts while asking the public for patience as the case developed. The next formal milestones are likely to come through police briefings, arrest warrants or medical examiner updates, but none had been announced by Wednesday morning. Until then, the case stands at a familiar and difficult stage for homicide detectives: two young victims identified, a crime scene mapped, and many of the central questions still unresolved.
The emotional response spread quickly beyond police headquarters. The mayor’s statement set the tone for city officials, with Gumbs saying her heart went out to the victims’ families and the wider community. Television reports from the scene showed the visual weight of the aftermath: flashing patrol lights, taped-off pavement and a towed car leaving the neighborhood as detectives stayed behind. Even without many public details, the age of the victims shaped how the killings were discussed across the city. A 16-year-old and a 14-year-old had been alive on a Tuesday evening and gone by Wednesday morning, and that fact alone made the case more than another overnight police item. Residents were left with a narrow public timeline, a street name and two names from the medical examiner, but little explanation of why the shooting happened. For now, those missing pieces are at the center of the story as police try to turn scattered clues into an arrest.
By Wednesday afternoon, the two victims had been identified, the shooter had not been found and South Fulton police were still investigating what happened on Fortune Point around 8:25 p.m. Tuesday. The next major update is expected when detectives announce an arrest, release new evidence or provide a public briefing on the case.
Author note: Last updated March 18, 2026.