ATLANTA – A 39-year-old man died Thursday night after fleeing from Atlanta police responding to a 911 call about a dispute involving a weapon on William Nye Drive, authorities said.

Officers were dispatched to the 200 block of William Nye Drive in southeast Atlanta after reports of gunfire and a woman being dragged into a residence.

What they’re saying:

“When officers arrived, they knocked on the door and a male opened the door and immediately shut the door on the officers,” said Lt. Andrew Smith, commander of Atlanta’s homicide unit.

Police then set up a perimeter around the home. As officers surrounded the area, two men fled from the back of the residence. One of them returned to the house. The other man jumped two fences before being found injured nearby.

“He appeared to have suffered an injury to his leg,” Smith said. “Officers rendered aid and he was transported to Grady Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.”

What we know:

Smith also addressed social media claims that police were involved in a shooting during the incident. “The Atlanta Police Department has not been involved in any shootings tonight and the incident on William Nye—no one was—there was not a shooting at all,” he said.

Smith emphasized that the man’s injury did not result from any police action. “Just to be very clear, the injury that was sustained was not via the officers on scene,” he said.

What we don’t know:

The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office is working to identify the man and notify his next of kin. 

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called in to review the incident due to public speculation surrounding the case. 

Atlanta police responded to an armed dispute call along William Nye Drive in southeast Atlanta on March 28, 2025. (FOX 5)

Despite the initial 911 reports, police have not located a female victim and are still working to verify what occurred. “We have not been able to substantiate any of that, which is also a part of our investigation,” Smith added.

The biggest moves in NFL free agency have already been made, but the Atlanta Falcons were forced to watch from the sidelines with very-little salary cap space for the 2025 cycle.

They addressed some needs with linebacker Divine Deablo, edge rusher Leonard Floyd, and safety Jordan Fuller. However, ESPN’s Ben Solak was critical of the Falcons ability to sign players as well as who they signed.

Solak recently ranked all-32 NFL teams and their 2025 free agency classes on ESPN+, and he has the Falcons dead last at No. 32. He listed what he loved and didn’t love from each class. Atlanta entered free agency ranked between 30 and 31 in available-cap space according to Spotrac, and that helped shape the narrative for Solak.

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It was all downhill from there.

“Pretty much nothing,” Solak wrote about what he loved in the Falcons’ class

What he didn’t love? “Pretty much everything.”

Ouch.

Solak immediately took the Falcons to task for poor salary cap management before digging into the players Atlanta signed.

“The Falcons walked into this cycle with a preposterously little amount of cap space for a team that hasn’t appeared in the playoffs for the past seven seasons,” wrote Solak. “But what they spent on doesn’t move the needle.”

The Atlanta Falcons are doing a good job of turning quarterback Kirk Cousins into the bad guy, but they’re the ones who signed him to a two-year guaranteed contract. Cousins’s money was always going to be part of 2025. That he’s not the starter has nothing to do with his cap hit, whether they trade him or not (a trade helps the 2026 cap).

Questions about why this team parlayed themselves into such a poor position are valid.

However, Solak may have let his disdain for Atlanta’s cap management bias his thoughts on the players they signed.

“Floyd is a Raheem Morris retread and lacks the pass-rush juice to save an anemic front four in Atlanta,” wrote Solak. “Morgan Fox was once a handy player, but is a few years beyond his prime. Deablo probably will not break the starting lineup behind Troy Andersen and Kaden Elliss. Fuller, another Morris retread, will have the same athletic limitations Justin Simmons did in 2024.”

I feel salary cap management is a different category than scouting and signing. The Falcons did a poor job of allocating their resources last year and flushed up to $100 million down the drain on Cousins.

Given how poorly the Falcons played under previous defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, upgrading the play at specific positions shouldn’t be overly difficult. Is Justin Simmons a better player than Jordan Fuller? Probably, but he didn’t very well last year.

Getting better play out of the safety spot from Fuller than Simmons in 2025 under new defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich isn’t a leap of faith, it’s almost a certainty.

Edge rusher? The Falcons sent a third-round pick to the Patriots for Matthew Judon to watch him chase running backs on wheel routes into the secondary. Is Leonard Floyd better than Judon? That one is up for debate, but Judon was poor for the Falcons. Floyd will play better at edge than Judon did.

With a one-year, $10-million deal when premier pass rushers are making $30-million-plus, Floyd isn’t being asked to save an anemic front four. He’s being counted on to improve it.

As far as Deablo sitting behind Troy Andersen – Andersen has started six games in the last two seasons. Simply being healthy gives Deablo a leg up on Andersen. If Andersen is healthy, Ulbrich has one of the most athletic linebacker rooms in the NFL and gives Elliss the license to free lance on the pass rush more often.

The Falcons may have had the worst free agent group in the NFL, but it’s easy to see how the players Atlanta signed this month can help the team in 2025 without burdening them financially beyond this season.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Billboards paid for by the Canadian government have gone up around Metro Atlanta, warning about the price of tariffs.

“I was a little surprised. I was driving to Emory, it was a digital billboard, it said something to the effect of tariffs are a tax on your groceries, and it was brought to you by the government of Canada and I was like, ‘Oh. That’s an interesting little take,‘” said Dr. Tom Jones, an economics professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

A surprising message over Metro Atlanta: “Tariffs are a tax…” some signs saying on groceries, some saying at the gas pump, but all saying paid for by the government of Canada.

“People watching us in the States are the only ones that can really influence what’s going on in the white house because they’re the victims,” said Melanie Joly, the Canadian Foreign Minister.

The United States and Canada are currently in what some economists would call a trade war since President Donald Trump proposed 25% tariffs on the country.

Canada responded with a threat to implement nearly $21 billion in retaliatory tariffs.

“For another country to reach out to consumers directly is a fairly novel approach. I thought it was interesting for sure,” said Dr. Smith.

Not everyone is receptive to the message.

“For Canada to make that statement it really shows their lack of respect to America,” said Tren Greene, who lives in Atlanta.

Or thinks it’s the best way to make a point.

“I think it’s interesting. I mean obviously they have a message they want to send and I guess they thought this was the best way to do it,” said Aiden Connolly, who lives in Atlanta. “Today I’m not sure if that’s the best way. There’s lots of social media.”

But they certainly have people talking.

“Anytime you can have a dialogue about economic policy, especially economic policy that hits consumers right in their wallet, I think it’s valuable to have that dialogue,” said Dr. Smith.

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