Late Tuesday morning, Deunta Akeem Grier went to the Workhouse of Faith Missionary Baptist Church.
His original intention, it seems, was merely to pay respects at the funeral of Tiffany Bailey, a 24-year-old woman shot in the head inside her southwest Atlanta apartment some 10 days earlier.
He ended up confessing to her murder instead, police said — and shots rang out near the church shortly after his departure in a police car.
Atlanta police spokeswoman Officer Kim Jones confirmed Wednesday that Grier, 26, was charged in connection with the death of Bailey, who died Nov. 9 after being shot two days earlier inside an apartment on Cleveland Avenue SW.
Fulton County jail records show Grier has been charged with murder and aggravated assault and is being held without bond.
The relationship between Grier and Bailey was unclear.
According to authorities, an off-duty officer attending Bailey’s Tuesday funeral flagged down a passing officer around 11:50 a.m. and asked him to “escort” Grier to the police department because the man “wanted to turn himself in to the homicide unit for the circumstances surrounding Ms. Bailey’s death.”
A few minutes later, two cars drove by the church at 802 Pryor St. SW and fired several gunshots. Police said one suspect was quickly detained, but no other details have been provided.
Authorities have not confirmed this week’s shooting’s connection to the funeral or to Grier’s arrest. A witness, however, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that one group of men had gotten into a fight with “some people they thought were involved” in Bailey’s death before getting in their cars, driving off and circling back to fire the shots.
No one was injured.
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