A 16-year-old faces felony murder charges related to the shooting of a 30-year U.S. Army veteran, Atlanta police said Friday.
Randy Smith was found shot in one of his rental properties located at 106 Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard on Sunday, not long after his wife reported him missing.
Atlanta police spokesman Maj. Adam Lee said Smith’s wife told police where he was supposed to have gone and when police arrived they found his body.
“At the time we discovered his body, we discovered his truck was missing,” Lee said.
Police found Smith’s truck about six miles away on Lena Street.
Investigators determined there was enough evidence to get an arrest warrant for the juvenile Wednesday. The teenager turned himself in with an attorney, Lee said. Lee said the 16-year-old was known to frequent the area in southwest Atlanta.
Smith started teaching yoga in Decatur in 2005, according to a memorial page at stillhotyoga.com. The site calls Smith "one of our most beloved instructors" and refers to his yoga teaching style as an enthusiastic blend of mock drill sergeant and compassionate, cheerful coach.
Studio manager Rebecca Rumpf said Arden Zinn, of Arden's Gardens and the founder of Arden Zinn Studios in the 1960s, was one of Smith's yoga students.
When Zinn’s family didn’t want her to drive anymore, Smith would pick her up, drive her to yoga class and then take her home afterward, Rumpf said.
“That’s the kind of person he was,” Rumpf said. “He went above and beyond. (His death) is starting to sink in and it’s unbelievable.”
Memorial services will be held at Saint Philip A.M.E. Church at 240 Candler Road in Atlanta at 10:30 a.m. Monday. After the service, Smith will be buried with full military honors at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton.
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