A father is behind bars months after Clayton County authorities said he attacked the mother of his children during a custody exchange, leading to a shooting that left her boyfriend dead.
Tony Victor Stevenson, 34, surrendered to authorities Monday morning, the agency said in a news release. He was booked into the Clayton County Jail on battery and child cruelty charges, records show.
Clayton County authorities had been looking for Stevenson since the deadly incident Nov. 9 at a Chevron gas station at the intersection of Forest Parkway and Tara Boulevard.
Investigators said Stevenson went to the gas station for a custody exchange. The woman’s boyfriend, 30-year-old Kevin Spruill, accompanied her, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
When Stevenson saw Spruill, he became irate, according to the release.
“Stevenson took the mother of his children’s car keys and went back to his car in an attempt to drive off,” the agency said. “The mother went to retrieve her keys by jumping into the vehicle’s driver’s-side window when Stevenson began to strike her with a closed fist multiple times and bit her.”
Spruill came to his girlfriend’s defense and was shot multiple times by a passenger in Stevenson’s car, identified by investigators as 27-year-old Reginald Hardy. Stevenson then pulled his ex-girlfriend into the car and drove away, according to authorities.
Police said Stevenson and Hardy abandoned the car at a nearby hotel, leaving the woman and her four children unharmed. She then returned to the gas station, where she found her boyfriend dead.
Hardy, who is from Riverdale, surrendered to authorities Nov. 18, the AJC previously reported. He is charged with murder, cruelty to children, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Hardy remains jailed without bond. Stevenson remained in the Clayton jail Wednesday on a $12,5000 bond.
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