The Atlanta Police Department has identified the man accused of slashing tents last week at the same homeless encampment where Cornelius Taylor died after a construction vehicle struck him while clearing the site in January.
The suspect, Daniel Barnett, 42, also goes by the name Davinci Barcelo. He is the head of Sweet Auburn Frontline Enforcement, or SAFE, which offers private security services and says it patrols and cleans up public streets. His group’s website states he is on a mission to “decommission unlawful encampments that foster crime and disorder.”
The Atlanta Police Department said in a preliminary statement Sunday night that investigators responded to the Old Wheat Street encampment on the morning of March 7, and interviewed several people who said a man had slashed their tents with a “cutting tool.”
“Investigators with the General Crimes Unit responded to the scene to assist with the investigation and subsequently secured warrants for Mr. Barnett for damage to property,” according to the statement.
Credit: linkedin
Credit: linkedin
It was not immediately clear if SAFE is effectively a one-person group or has several members. According to the group’s website, Barnett — who is referred to as Barcelo on the site — is founder and CEO. The website names three other people as having other roles in the organization.
Police said they believed Barnett acted alone.
A statement on the SAFE website said allegations of damage to property were false and that the group was responding at the camp to “eliminate fire risks and restore emergency access.” Police said that while Barnett was known as a security guard in the neighborhood, he is not affiliated with the city of Atlanta or the police department.
Video obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows a man going from one tent to another and slashing the outer and inner fabric with what looks like a utility knife or box cutter. The man wears a vermilion beanie over his dreadlocks and is wearing bright orange, yellow, and tan camouflage pants and a black “enforcement” T-shirt.
“Get the tents out of the street. I’m out of your hair. It’s a done deal,” he can be heard saying on the video.
“You work for the city of Atlanta?” someone asks off-camera.
“No, I don’t work for the city of Atlanta.”
“He’s a citizen,” comes the reply from offscreen. “He’s just like us but he’s inside of a house. We’re outside.”
People who knew Taylor were among the alleged victims of the incident, which occurred just feet away from a memorial in his name. On Jan. 16, a Department of Public Works construction vehicle struck Taylor while he was in his tent at the camp, in proximity to the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered sermons advocating for the vulnerable and poor.
On Saturday, the surrounding area was bustling with bus tours and visitors to the historic neighborhood, seemingly oblivious to the homeless encampment and the police investigation.
Several tents were in tatters, leaving people, and their belongings, exposed to the rain, damp, and cold.
Taylor’s girlfriend, Lolita Griffeth, still lives at the camp. She sat on the side of the street in a chair Saturday, clasping two unlit Newport cigarettes in the palm of her hand. Though she did not identify Barnett by name, she said that on one of the nights he arrived at the camp, she was sitting around a fire to stay warm. The man marched up to her and used an extinguisher to put out the fire, she said.
“Everybody else was shocked,” Griffeth said. “I said: ‘Are you the police or something?’ I said: ‘I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that.’”
Credit: Matt Reynolds
Credit: Matt Reynolds
Gus Hendricks, a friend of Taylor’s who lives at the camp, was left with little doubt that the man was trying to harass and intimidate unhoused people. He said that on Wednesday night the man had come by himself, and on Thursday he was with somebody else. Witnesses described the other individual as wearing the all-black garb of a security officer.
“It’s scary as hell,” Hendricks said. “He wants to see the fear in us.”
Members of the Justice for Cornelius Taylor Coalition, including homeless advocate Nolan English, delivered new tents, food, and socks on Saturday afternoon. During a press conference at the camp, civil rights attorney Mawuli Mel Davis condemned Barnett’s alleged actions.
“These are Atlanta citizens that deserve protection, that deserve the right to live in peace, that deserve the right to live without being terrorized and having their very few personal belongings destroyed,” Davis said.
Davis called for Barnett’s immediate arrest. The police statement did not say whether Barnett was in custody or had been arrested, and a police department spokesperson said Monday it would post any significant updates on its website. The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Credit: Matt Reynolds
Credit: Matt Reynolds
Cathryn Vassell is the CEO of Partners for HOME, the nonprofit that coordinates the city’s homeless strategy. She told City Council members in February that a local man, who she later identified as Davinci Barcelo, had been exerting pressure on officials in the lead-up to the Jan. 16 clearing, after he threatened to forcibly remove people from the camp.
In a February interview, the AJC asked Vassell why the nonprofit and the city felt they had to respond to threats from an individual who did not appear to have the authority to lawfully remove people from a public street.
“We get complaints all the time from neighbors and community members. A threat is unusual. But this is one more reason why we [wanted] to get it done as quickly as possible,” she said.
Davis criticized Partners for HOME’s inaction, noting that it “doesn’t make legal sense or common sense.”
In a March 9 video statement, Barnett claimed his group was “retained” to clear up the area and that the tents were “abandoned property.”
After seeing a fire in the camp on Thursday, he said he “took action to extinguish it.” He also encouraged volunteers to join his group.
“For everyone who’s saying all this negative stuff about the work that’s being done: We’re Black people cleaning up a Black neighborhood that Martin Luther King used to walk the streets in. We’re doing our own work,” he said.
In an interview with the AJC on Monday, Barnett said that SAFE’s goal is to remove debris, and empty unoccupied tents from the roadway, not the people who live at the camp. SAFE was contracted by community stakeholders, and other private interests, he added, though he declined to name them. He said the allegations of criminal damage to property are “categorically false.”
When asked why he had put himself in legal peril by taking matters into his own hands, he argued SAFE is better equipped than the city to handle the homeless camp, citing Taylor’s death as an example.
“I would say, no, we’re not putting ourselves in legal peril. We never, ever remove anybody from any property. We don’t enforce any laws. The only thing that we’ve done is identify debris and remove it,” Barnett said.
In emailed statements to the AJC in February, Barnett said the city’s failure to clear the camp had led to rising crime in the neighborhood, including property theft and break-ins.
“Unlawful encampments are not a victimless issue,” he said. “The financial stability of the area is dynamically impacted and felt through higher insurance premiums.”
Barnett, who was identified as Barcelo in an AJC story last week, said he acts “lawfully, transparently, and in coordination with a network of homeless outreach resources.” He said his legal authority stems from existing Georgia laws prohibiting street camping.
Investigators with the General Crimes Unit were at the encampment again on March 8, and showed several people a photo array, or lineup. Officers at the scene declined to comment, stating only that they were investigating and taking witness statements.
— AJC reporter Caroline Silva contributed to this story.
Credit: Matt Reynolds
Credit: Matt Reynolds
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