An 18-year-old suspected of murder and gang activity who was arrested earlier this year has been indicted by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s new Gang Prosecution Unit, officials announced Wednesday.
Donald Bernard Bannister, also known as Lil Ghost, has been charged with multiple counts related to a fatal shooting in Marietta in June 2021, Carr said in a news release. Bannister is believed to be a member of the 2Solid street gang, which is nationally affiliated with the Bloods, Carr said.
After more than a year on the run, Bannister was located in East Point and taken into custody Aug. 2 by the U.S. Marshals Service, Marietta police previously announced. He was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he remains without bond, according to online jail records.
Warrants were issued for Bannister several weeks after the shooting of 30-year-old Norval Bailey, Marietta police said. Officers were called to the 1600 block of Massachusetts Street and found Bailey lying in the road, unresponsive. He was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where he died, police said.
Bannister has now been charged by a grand jury with two counts of violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and one count each of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and criminal attempt to sell marijuana, Carr said.
Bannister has also been charged as part of a separate indictment related to a fight at the Cobb jail in 2020, Carr said. Court records indicate Bannister was arrested on multiple charges related to an attempted armed robbery in 2019. While in jail, he and an alleged accomplice, Knazier Clarke, were accused of attacking another inmate with a broom, according to the indictment.
Both men were charged with aggravated assault and simple battery, Carr said, and Bannister faces two additional gang charges.
“Our new Gang Prosecution Unit is fighting to root out violent gang activity in every corner of our state,” Carr said. “We are serving as a force multiplier by working with local law enforcement to ensure that Georgians are protected and criminals are kept off of our streets. This is our first indictment to come out of metro Atlanta, as we continue our efforts to keep all of Georgia’s families and communities safe.”
The indictment is the Gang Prosecution Unit’s first in the metro Atlanta area and sixth overall, the AG’s office said. All six were handed down in October, the first four out of the Athens area and a fifth out of Albany.
In an unrelated incident, police were recently called to the area where Bailey was fatally wounded for another deadly shooting. Investigators believe multiple people fired shots in the area of Massachusetts Street and Carolina Road around 5 p.m. Sunday, police said. The shooting resulted in a large police response that included a SWAT unit.
Investigators detained one person for questioning, police said, and a man was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. The victim, later identified as 27-year-old Marcus Sauveur, died from his wound, police said.
As of Tuesday, no charges had been filed in the case. A Marietta police spokesman said a dispute between some residents of the neighborhood and a visitor led to the shooting.
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