Two months after they allegedly shot and killed a wedding guest outside a private Atlanta club, two young suspects previously charged and two 15-year-old juveniles were indicted by a grand jury Friday.
Investigators believe Jayden Myrick, 18, shot Christian Broder near the Capital City Club in north Atlanta on July 8, according to police. The second suspect, 19-year-old Torrus Fleetwood, was the alleged getaway driver.
On July 13, police arrested Myrick and his charges were later upgraded to murder, aggravated assault and armed robbery. Fleetwood was arrested Aug. 2 and also charged with murder. The grand jury upheld those charges and also charged two 15-year-olds with murder in the shooting. All four are believed to be gang members, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Credit: � 2018 Cox Media Group.
Credit: � 2018 Cox Media Group.
The two 15-year-olds, Kevan Reeves and Montavious Lovejoy, had not previously been charged in the case. They are expected to surrender Thursday, the DA’s office said. No details were released about their alleged roles in Broder’s killing.
Both Myrick and Fleetwood remained late Friday in the Fulton jail, where they were being held without bond.
A restaurant executive, Broder, 34, lived in Washington, D.C., but was in Atlanta to attend a wedding. Around 12:15 a.m. as he and three others waited outside the gates of the Capital City Club near Brookhaven, they were approached by a vehicle they believed to be their Uber driver, police previously said.
Instead, investigators say Myrick got out of a stolen 2014 Dodge Charger and demanded their belongings at gunpoint, according to a police report. As Broder followed Myrick and tried to negotiate with him, Myrick shot him the stomach, police said. Broder later died from his injuries.
An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that both Myrick and Fleetwood had recent criminal records, but they were not in jail because both had been granted leniency.
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Myrick was “the big test case” for reforming juvenile offenders outside of adult prison, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Doris Downs told the teenager during a hearing on March 12, according to a transcript. Downs overruled a prosecutor’s insistence that Myrick was dangerous and a request to revoke his probation for an armed robbery he committed in 2015 at age 14.
In January 2016, Fleetwood was arrested in Clayton County on charges of making terroristic threats, obstruction of a police officer and battery on a police officer. He pleaded guilty about a year later and received a three-year sentence – six months in jail and 2½ years on probation.
Fulton County court records show that Fleetwood was also arrested on June 26, 2016, for robbery by force and other charges, including battery and gang activity. Seven months later, on Jan. 25, 2017, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison and three years on probation, but was released Jan. 31, 2017, after being credited for time served. However, in March, a Clayton County judge revoked his probation and ordered him to spend 30 days in jail.
Broder, who was married with an infant daughter, worked as a restaurant executive and was critically injured. He was first treated at Piedmont Hospital before being transferred to a Washington hospital, where he died July 20.
Born in Dallas, Texas, Broder spent his teenage years in metro Atlanta and graduated from Woodward Academy, according to his online obituary.
“A sommelier by trade, Christian shared his passion for a good glass of wine with anyone in pouring distance,” Broder’s obituary stated. “His kindness, humility, affable nature, and generosity were felt by all those who came in contact with him.”
Both Myrick and Fleetwood remained late Friday in the Fulton jail, where they were being held without bond.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier reported how judges rely on private organizations to rehabilitate young offenders, but those programs operate with little or no oversight or accountability. Our reporting also showed that the rehabilitation program Jayden Myrick was sent to, Visions Unlimited, has no residential program, no employees and no funding.
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