A troubling trend of gun violence involving teenagers in metro Atlanta continued Wednesday.
Four people are facing murder charges in connection with the shooting of a 17-year-old in Douglas County, authorities said, the third teenager to be shot and killed in the metro area since early Sunday.
Details are limited, but sheriff’s deputies responded around 6 p.m. to a report of a person struck by gunfire in an unidentified area of the Bill Arp community. The victim, Brian Brown of Powder Springs, was taken to a hospital but died from his injuries.
A manhunt ensued, and by Thursday morning the sheriff’s office said it had located and arrested four people allegedly connected to the killing. They were identified as Zayden Cooper, 17, Angel Menchaca Hernandez, 21, and Giovanni Omedeo and Douglas Omedeo, both 20. Cooper lives in Douglasville, while the other three are from Villa Rica.
“Our deputies and investigators worked through the night and morning pursuing the individuals responsible for his death,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release Thursday afternoon. Authorities have not provided a motive for the shooting.
The four suspects are each facing charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.
Just three days earlier, a 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were killed in separate shootings over Memorial Day weekend. No arrests have been made in those incidents.
Bre’Asia Powell was fatally shot during a large unauthorized gathering outside Mays High School early Sunday. Later that morning, Charles Brown was inside a basement at a Cobb County house about a mile from his home when he was shot in the face. He died hours later at a hospital.
An investigation into Wednesday’s fatal shooting is ongoing, the sheriff’s office said.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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