The victims were identified Wednesday as 16-year-old Jamauri Smarr and 14-year-old Jeremiah Carter.
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — South Fulton police were searching Wednesday for the gunman who killed two teenagers the night before in the Cooks Landing subdivision, where officers found the boys shot outside a home near the 4200 block of Fortune Point.
The case drew fast attention because of the victims’ ages, the neighborhood setting and the lack of an immediate arrest. Police said the shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and sent both teens to a hospital, where they later died. By Wednesday morning, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office had identified them as Jamauri Smarr, 16, and Jeremiah Carter, 14. Investigators had not announced a motive, named a suspect or said what led to the gunfire, leaving the killings as a fresh and still largely unexplained double homicide in one of metro Atlanta’s newer cities.
Police first responded Tuesday night to reports of a shooting in the subdivision, a residential area of single-family homes and short neighborhood streets on the city’s southwest side. When officers arrived, they found two teenage boys with gunshot wounds outside a house, according to statements released by law enforcement and television coverage from the scene. Medics took both to a nearby hospital. Early reports described one victim as being in critical condition, but police later confirmed that both boys had died. The timeline hardened by daylight Wednesday, when investigators were still working to determine exactly what happened in the minutes before the shots were fired. Officials did not say whether the teens were visiting the home, lived nearby or had arrived with other people. They also did not say whether the shooter approached on foot, came by car or fled before officers reached Fortune Point.
By sunrise, the case had moved from a breaking-news shooting to a full homicide investigation with many of its central facts still withheld or unknown. South Fulton police said the suspect remained on the run. Officers at the scene towed away a white sedan, but authorities did not publicly explain who owned the car or what investigators hoped it might show. No weapon had been described publicly, and police did not say how many times either teen was shot. They also did not release a suspect description Wednesday, a sign either that detectives were still sorting through witness statements and evidence or that they were protecting details they believed could matter later. Mayor Carmalitha Gumbs addressed the city in a written statement, saying, “My heart goes out to the families of these young victims and the entire community as we grapple with this devastating loss.” She added that city leaders were in contact with police command staff and public safety officials as the investigation continued.
The location gave the killings added force. This was not a shooting outside a club district, shopping area or major intersection, but in a subdivision where the visual markers are driveways, mailboxes and parked cars. That contrast helped explain the wider reaction Wednesday as city officials tried to balance grief with public reassurance. Gumbs said South Fulton remains one of the safest cities in Georgia, even as she acknowledged the pain of the moment. The deaths of two boys, ages 16 and 14, also sharpened the sense of loss around the case. Their names became public only hours after the shooting, turning the story from a nighttime alert into a far more personal account of two young lives cut short. As residents woke to police lights, taped-off pavement and the news that both victims had died, the unanswered questions became part of the impact: who wanted them dead, whether they were targeted and what danger, if any, remained for others in the neighborhood.
Police had not announced charges by Wednesday, and no court filings had been made public identifying a suspect in the killings. The next procedural steps are likely to include the review of witness interviews, forensic testing of shell casings and other items from the scene, and the examination of any vehicle evidence tied to the white sedan that was removed overnight. Detectives may also seek surveillance footage from nearby homes or doorbell cameras, though officials had not said publicly whether such video exists. The medical examiner’s office had confirmed the identities of the two victims, but authorities had not released additional details about where each teen was struck or whether autopsies had been completed. Until an arrest is made or warrants are filed, investigators are expected to keep many of those details close. That leaves the public record narrow but important: two teens were shot around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, both later died, and the person responsible had not been caught as of Wednesday.
The scene itself told only part of the story. Broadcast footage showed patrol vehicles crowding the street and investigators staying on the block long after dark, suggesting a broad search for evidence in and around the home where the teens were found. The removal of the sedan added another visible layer to the investigation, though not yet an explanation. Officials did not identify family members publicly, and no relatives were quoted in the first round of reporting. Instead, the strongest public voice came from City Hall, where the mayor’s statement framed the shooting as both a private tragedy and a civic test. For neighbors, the facts were painfully basic: two boys had been alive in the neighborhood on Tuesday evening and were dead by the next morning. Until detectives disclose more, that stark timeline remains the clearest measure of the violence that struck Cooks Landing.
As of Wednesday, South Fulton police had identified the victims, kept the crime scene at the center of an active investigation and said the gunman was still at large. The next major step is expected to come with an arrest announcement, a police briefing or court records that explain who detectives believe carried out the shooting.
Author note: Last updated March 18, 2026.