Update to an earlier report: This article includes new information about a story we previously covered. Read our earlier report.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson says investigators should establish evidence of a gang connection before describing a crime as gang-related, a distinction that affects how cases are investigated and presented in court. He said a young person’s involvement—or a person’s gang affiliation—does not by itself prove that an incident involved gang activity.
Johnson pointed to domestic incidents as an example: someone affiliated with a gang may be involved in a matter that has no connection to that group. He said investigators must determine whether a gang link exists, and that claims made publicly or on social media are not a substitute for evidence that can be proved in court.
Addressing the Oglethorpe Mall shooting, Johnson said he had seen circumstances that raised questions but had not labeled the incident gang-related without supporting facts. He said Savannah would identify the Bay Street incident as gang-related if the evidence establishes that connection.
The Savannah Police Department’s gang unit has been in place for roughly 10 years, Johnson said. He believes it now has more than three officers, the staffing level he recalled from years ago. The officers focus on gang activity and members, but the team is not assigned to every shooting or other incident.
Johnson said he cannot provide a reliable estimate of how many gangs operate in Savannah. As he described it, the legal definition requires more than one person conspiring with a criminal purpose. He cautioned that groups involved in music or sports can be labeled as gangs without sufficient basis. He also described gang affiliations as more fluid and geographically based than when he worked as a police officer, with people moving between groups, aging out and new groups forming.
Johnson was asked about Chatham County Sheriff Richard Coleman’s news conference, where Coleman identified more than 10 gangs in the county area and discussed a new gang unit. Johnson said Coleman leads county law enforcement, while the city is responsible for Savannah’s police department and its existing unit. He welcomed the sheriff’s involvement and said crime crosses jurisdictional lines.
Johnson said the city prioritizes investigating cases thoroughly and presenting evidence in court rather than publicly identifying gangs. He also said Savannah has hired a federal prosecutor embedded with the U.S. Attorney’s Office; cases that reach the federal level will be prosecuted in federal court.
Johnson said gangs have been present in Savannah for decades, and recalled that the city had close to three times as many murders in the 1980s as it does today. He said the city’s violent-crime numbers are down and credited partnerships with faith communities and nonprofits for work with young people, including interventions that may not become public.
Yolonda Harris
News Now Georgia
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