More than nine months after the fatal shooting of a Houston rapper on I-85 in Gwinnett County, a man was arrested at the Atlanta airport and charged in the death, authorities said Wednesday.
James Edward Thomas, 34, was getting off an airplane at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when he was apprehended by Gwinnett deputies and Atlanta police officers, authorities said. He was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail on Saturday on four counts of aggravated assault and one count of malice murder in the shooting of 33-year-old Corey Detiege, Gwinnett sheriff’s office spokesperson Deputy Ashley Castiblanco said. Thomas is being held without bond.
On March 5, Detiege, who goes by the stage name Chucky Trill, was found shot inside a vehicle near the Jimmy Carter Boulevard exit about 3 a.m., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The rapper later died in the hospital.
Gwinnett police shut down the northbound lanes of the interstate for more than two hours while they investigated the shooting. Authorities said at the time that shots were fired into Detiege’s car from another vehicle.
“Obviously these types of shootings are very concerning for the police department,” Gwinnett police said at the time. “Not only do you have the two vehicles involved in the shooting, but you also have multiple people that are driving on the interstate that could also be victims in these types of crimes.”
Detiege was the son of rapper D Of Trinity Garden Cartel, a popular Houston rapper in the 1990s. Detiege and his wife moved to Atlanta in 2016, when he started his career as an independent artist, according to his obituary page. His album, “Cartel Baby,” was released in October, seven months after his death.
