One of two men allegedly involved in the shooting death of another man outside a Chamblee QuikTrip was arrested in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Friday, authorities said.
Leroy Copney was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service outside a motel in the South Carolina beach town after authorities learned that he might be staying there, said Jim Joyner, an Atlanta-based inspector with the marshals regional fugitive task force.
Copney and his alleged accomplice, Jilani Bakhari, were in the QT in the 4000 block of Buford Highway on Dec. 29, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Copney was standing in front of the hot dog display “looking discombobulated,” Joyner said. Andrew Spencer, who was in line behind Copney, reached around him to take a hot dog bun, a move that Copney took as disrespect.
When Spencer, 30, walked out of the convenience store, Copney was waiting for him, officials said. They got into an argument. Spencer’s friend, Quintin Heard, who was with him that night, told the AJC that moments later, Bakhari or Copney started shooting.
Spencer was shot in the heart, Joyner said.
Bakhari and Copney sped away in a Maserati, officials said. Authorities later charged both men with murder, aggravated assault and violation of the Georgia Gang Act.
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On Friday, South Carolina authorities working with marshals spotted Copney coming out of a motel with a woman, Joyner said.
Authorities swarmed the pair and arrested them, Joyner said. Copney had an AR-15 rifle, and the woman had a 9mm handgun. Her name was not released. South Carolina officials arrested her on weapons charges.
Copney will be extradited to Georgia, although Joyner declined to say when.
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