Dexter Calhoun, a 63-year-old Black man known and loved in his Southwest Atlanta community, is remembered by those who knew him as down-to-earth, cool, caring, and loving. A grandfather and uncle, he shared a particularly close bond with his only son, Cory. "He was more than my dad," Cory said. "He was like a brother. That is how close we were. There was nothing I could not talk to him about and he would let me know right or wrong."
That cherished relationship came to a violent and senseless end on the night of Saturday, May 8, 2021. Dexter was driving his pickup truck, heading home through the Westview neighborhood, when a minor traffic incident turned fatal. According to what witnesses later told his family, Dexter may have accidentally bumped another car and continued driving. In response, someone in the other vehicle opened fire.
Around 11 p.m., Atlanta Police Department officers responded to a call about a car crash on Emerald Avenue SW. They arrived to find
Dexter’s pickup truck had struck a pole. Inside, they discovered he had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Paramedics rushed him to Grady Memorial Hospital, but his injuries were too severe, and he was pronounced dead. His family was adamant that he was unarmed and that the situation should never have escalated to violence.
The shooting stunned his relatives and neighbors. "All they needed to do was switch insurance companies and exchange information," his niece, Shelbie Calhoun, said through tears. "It should not have involved an argument, it should not have involved a gun. The whole thing is just pointless." A longtime resident of the area, Larry Stewart, lamented the tragedy, shaking his head. "This day and time people do not value life," he said. "Theirs or anyone else's. It just makes you sad."
Homicide detectives with the Atlanta Police Department immediately began an investigation into Dexter's murder. Investigators retrieved surveillance video from the area in an effort to identify a suspect, though the footage was not released to the public. In the days following the shooting, police announced plans to conduct a tactical canvass of the neighborhood, hoping to find more witnesses who could provide information to "further the investigation into the murder," according to a department spokesperson. The canvass, scheduled for the afternoon of May 12, was postponed due to rain and was expected to be rescheduled.
In the years since Dexter Calhoun's death, his family has waited for a breakthrough that has not come. They pleaded with the public for anyone with information to come forward and help bring them a measure of justice. As of May 2021, no arrests have been announced, and no suspects have been publicly identified. The case remains an open and unsolved homicide, leaving a loving family and a shaken community without answers. Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to please call the Atlanta Police Department.
