A suspect posed as a delivery driver before allegedly shooting his ex’s new boyfriend to death at an apartment complex in Marietta, leading to a manhunt, authorities said Thursday.
Donovan Carter, 33, was taken into custody Wednesday evening after being stopped in a vehicle in Gwinnett County, Marietta police said, officially ending a roughly 12-hour search by several metro Atlanta law enforcement agencies.
“Once the identity was confirmed, inter-agency coordination with the officers in Gwinnett enabled Carter to be taken into custody just hours after the shooting occurred,” Marietta police spokesperson Officer Chuck McPhilamy said. “The smooth cooperation and coordination between multiple agencies enabled us to take this violent criminal off the streets quickly.”
That morning, Marietta police received a call about a person struck by gunfire at the Harlow Apartments, McPhilamy said. The complex is located in the area of Windy Hill Road and Cobb Parkway, and just across the street from the Georgia Memorial Park cemetery.
At the scene, officers found 40-year-old Kenneth Cunningham II dead near the complex office with several gunshot wounds. Police said he lived in an apartment there.
According to McPhilamy, Carter allegedly dressed up in a delivery driver uniform to lure Cunningham away from his apartment before shooting him when he went to look for his fake package. Police said Cunningham was dating Carter’s ex-girlfriend.
“The suspect did overtly and intentionally drive over an hour to this location premeditated, and plan this event posed as a delivery driver,” McPhilamy said. “(He then) lured the victim out of his residence and then proceeded to shoot him multiple times.”
Investigators reviewed surveillance video from neighboring businesses, spoke with witnesses and gathered evidence, leading Carter to be identified as a suspect.
Police learned he had a Gwinnett address and relayed that information before a traffic stop was conducted in the county. Officers with the Cobb County and Smyrna police departments, as well as deputies with the Cobb sheriff’s office, also helped during the search.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Carter was booked into the Cobb County jail just before 11 p.m. on charges of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, according to online records. He is being held without bond.
McPhilamy said police initially had knowledge that Carter had posed as a delivery driver but were hesitant to release those details to the public for a few reasons. He said they were getting conflicting reports and didn’t want to spark fear about “anyone legitimately out working for any delivery service.”
“We were under a tremendous amount of pressure to release that information,” he added.
Things changed once Carter was identified as the suspect and a connection was made between him and the victim later in the day. Police said he likely wouldn’t have been apprehended as quickly without the law enforcement agencies working together.
“Most of the time, we talk about a crime being solved because of one key piece,” he said. “You had six different agencies all working together to hold this individual accountable. And if it weren’t for all of their efforts ... if this were solved, it certainly would not have been solved in the short amount of hours.”
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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