The shot and death of a 7-year-old Atlanta girl has encouraged a group of community leaders to enlist a private security service to supplement the Atlanta Police Department.
NBC News reports that 7-year-old Kennedy Maxie was shot in the back of the head by a stray bullet just days before Christmas. She remained in critical condition before dying of her injuries on Saturday.
NBC notes that Kennedy’s death was one of the record murders the Atlanta police investigated this year. A suspect has not yet been identified.
Atlanta police officer Steve Avery said in a statement, “At the end of the week 52 reporting period, we are at 154 homicides, compared to 99 for the same period of 2019 … That’s a 61% increase.”
Kennedy’s December 21 shooting prompted a group of Atlanta city councilors to announce Monday that they had allocated $ 125,000 to fund the Buckhead Security Plan, NBC reports. The proposed plan would fund a private police force in the affluent Buckhead residential area of Atlanta.
City councilors JP Matzigkeit, Howard Shook and Matt Westmoreland backed the plan along with the backing of the Atlanta Police Department, members of the Fulton County Commission and a member of the Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
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In addition to additional security patrols, the plan also calls for additional security cameras and license plate readers, NBC reports. According to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the plan is set to cost $ 1.6 million, with private police officers set to begin patrolling the area as early as January.