A DeKalb County Grand Jury indicted on Tuesday seven men in connection with a four-month robbery crime spree that ended with the shooting death of a Decatur man.
Marcus Wilder, 23, was killed Dec. 26, 2015, when he came upon intruders as he entered his home in the East Perimeter Pointe Apartments, located in the 4900 block of Treecrest Parkway, Major Steve Fore, a spokesman for DeKalb County police previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Wilder’s roommate, Adrian Johnson, also 23, had been attacked, pistol-whipped and robbed by three armed men several hours before, at about 4:30 a.m., during an invasion of the apartment.
When Wilder came home about 8:30 a.m., he apparently walked in on intruders and was shot, Fore said. He died at the scene.
Jeffery Price, 23, and Quenterius Brown, 22, were arrested and charged with murder a few days later.
In addition, Jalin McNease, 17, and Octavious Johnson, 26, were charged in the home invasion armed robbery.
District Attorney Robert James said he wants to make an example of these individuals, calling gang violence a disease.
“We want to make sure these violent offenders can no longer endanger innocent citizens,” James said. “The criminal gang menace is a cancer in our community that must be removed, and my office is working diligently to prosecute as many violent gang offenders as possible.”
The 50-count indictment names Price, Brown, McNease and Johnson as well as three others: Donovan Harrison, Denzel Thomas and Andrew Lovett.
Marcus Garner, a spokesman for the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, said those indicted are tied to the Fruit Town Brims, an east coast set of the Bloods.
All of the men are charged with multiple counts of violating Georgia’s gang statute while committing the other crimes.
Price and Brown are charged with malice murder and felony murder for shooting and killing Wilder. Both are also charged with aggravated assault and burglary in connection with the incident.
McNease and Johnson are charged along with Price and Brown on separate counts of home invasion, armed robbery and aggravated assault for breaking into the same apartment earlier that morning and robbing, pistol-whipping and beating Wilder’s roommate.
Harrison, Brown, Price and McNease are charged with attempted home invasion and criminal property damage for a different break-in that same day less than a mile away.
Each of the defendants is charged with either armed robbery or attempted armed robbery for participating in separate incidents between September and December.
Johnson also is charged with several counts of aggravated assault for shooting Marcus Curtis in the back as Curtis tried to escape a Sept. 22, 2015, robbery attempt. Curtis survived.
Price, Lovett, Johnson, Brown and McNease are all being held without bond in the DeKalb County jail. Thomas and Harrison remain at large.
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