Police said that each homicide is approaching the one-year anniversary without answers or leads.
ATLANTA — Atlanta Police will hold an event on Wednesday to coordinate a tactical canvas for unsolved homicides from last year.
Authorities said the event will “assist with investigation efforts to gather additional leads.” The event will happen at 3:30 p.m. at Poncey-Highland Park at North Ave and John Lewis Freedom Pkwy.
Police added that each homicide is approaching the one-year anniversary without answers or leads.
One of the homicides in question is the shooting death of a 54-year-old community member and volunteer outside Manuel’s Tavern, located on North Highland Ave, on October 27, 2022.
Dean Phillips was shot and killed in the parking lot behind the bar, police said, when he attempted to stop someone from breaking into cars.
Police released a person of interest photo, which can be viewed below, a month after the shooting happened.
Phillips was a volunteer at the Stewart Foundation– a youth program that works with children and teens to develop communication, organization and leadership skills.
A teen whom Phillips used to mentor at the program previously said he couldn’t understand how the man he looked up to for so many years is gone.
“I just couldn’t understand. Then, I found out how it happened and I was like it just doesn’t make any sense. I didn’t even get to talk to him,” the teen previously said.
His mentee added Phillips taught him how to be a good person and helped through hard times.
Authorities have since increased the reward to $10,000 the would lead to an arrest in this case.
Atlanta Police will also discuss the shooting death of Ned Jackson.
Jackson was shot in the head on the same day Phillips lost his life. The deadly shooting that took Jackson’s life happened in a residential area just a quarter of a mile away from Ponce City Market at 657 Boulevard Northeast.
APD said the suspect was seen on surveillance video driving a white Mercedes and wearing a gray Nike hoodie and black sweatpants, see a photo below for reference.
In May of this year, police increased the reward to $5,000 for information that led to the suspect’s arrest of more information about the case.
These homicides appear to be separate incidents and not connected.
Anyone with information on these two cases can submit a tip anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477), online www.crimestoppersatlanta.org or by texting CSA and the tip to CRIMES (274637).
