Category: Atlanta
Atlanta police make arrest in connection with homeowner who cops say shot 2 teenage porch pirates
Atlanta police made an arrest late last week in connection with a homeowner who cops said shot two teenage porch pirates.
Police said Rakim Bradford, 34, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Fulton County Jail records indicate Bradford was booked into jail Friday and released Sunday.
Police said officers responded around 3:40 p.m. Thursday to the scene on Celeste Lane SW and found a 16-year-old male who apparently was shot in his right arm, and a 15-year-old male who apparently was shot in his right foot.
The 16-year-old male was taken to a hospital in critical condition, underwent surgery, and is expected to survive his injury, police said, adding that the 15-year-old was alert, conscious, and breathing, and was transported to a hospital for treatment.
RELATED: Atlanta homeowner shoots 2 juveniles who were taking packages from his porch, police say
Bradford’s arrest warrant indicates the teens saw a delivery van in the townhome complex and then “agreed to steal that package from the front of the residence,” Atlanta News First reported.
However, before the teens were able to make off with the package, Bradford opened the door and shot at them, Atlanta News First added, citing the warrant.
“Don’t go and steal people’s packages,” neighbor Andrew Julian told Atlanta News First. “On the other side of that, what right do you have to defend your own home, and then what decision do you make to defend your own home based on somebody taking an item off of your porch? So, it’s certainly a conversation to be had.”
Nubian Barnes, a neighbor of Bradford’s in the Villages of Cascade Townhome community, told WSB-TV she could understand his frustrations: “I can. But to shoot them. I don’t know. I just don’t feel he should have shot him.”
Barnes added to the station that shooting the teens could have resulted in fatalities: “And then he would have been facing murder charges. All because of a package that probably didn’t cost that much. Definitely didn’t cost a human life.”
Reginald Boudreaux added to WSB that the shooting was “crazy to me. Like, you call the police. That’s what police are for.”
Quin King noted to WSB that the shooting was “just so much over packages. Packages can be replaced,” she said.
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‘You done f**ked up, son!’ Cop rubs it in after capturing homicide suspect armed with handgun modified as fully automatic
Atlanta police officers from a special unit were seen on dashcam and bodycam videos converging upon and tackling a homicide suspect who was armed with a handgun modified as fully automatic, police said in a video released earlier this month.
Police said officers with the Auto Crimes Enforcement Unit were alerted to a homicide suspect driving in the area of Pickfair Way SW near Ashwood Avenue NW on Oct. 28.
‘Ram our f**kin’ car?’
The officers located the suspect’s vehicle and then used their patrol vehicles to box in the suspect’s vehicle, police said.
However, the suspect rammed patrol vehicles in front of him and behind him in an attempt to escape before fleeing from his vehicle while armed with a handgun that had been modified to be a fully automatic weapon, police said.
Image source: Atlanta Police Department video screenshot
While running from his car, the suspect threw the gun into an adjacent wooded area, after which officers took him down to the street.
Image source: Atlanta Police Department
“Get your ass on the ground!” one officer yelled at the suspect.
Once lying upon the street, the suspect quickly gave himself up, telling the arresting officer, “You got me!’
But the officer rubbed in the arrest just a bit, telling the suspect as he handcuffed him, “You done f**ked up, son! … Ram our f**kin’ car? We ain’t the normal police, pimp!”
Content warning: Language:
Police said the suspect was identified as 37-year-old Keith Hawkins, who was wanted for his involvement in a homicide that occurred at 700 Eloise Street SE on April 9.
Hawkins was charged with murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (two counts), possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a machine gun, willful obstruction of law enforcement officers, and operating a vehicle without insurance, police said.
Image source: Atlanta Police Department
Hawkins was taken to the Fulton County Jail for processing, police added.
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Atlanta homeowner shoots 2 juveniles who were taking packages from his porch, police say
An Atlanta homeowner shot two juveniles who were taking packages from his porch Thursday afternoon, police said.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told WXIA-TV that officers responded around 3:30 p.m. to the 800 block of Celeste Lane in the Mays neighborhood, which is part of the Villages of Cascade complex, after reports of shots fired. The townhomes are down the street from a high school, the station said.
‘At that exact moment, was he realistically and reasonably under an apparent threat?’
WXIA said a 15-year-old was shot in the foot while a second juvenile was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Police told the station late Thursday night that he made it through surgery and is expected to survive. WXIA said in its video report that the second juvenile was shot in the arm.
Schierbaum told the station that investigators determined the two juveniles were taking packages from a townhome when the homeowner came outside and opened fire.
The homeowner was taken to police headquarters for questioning, WXIA said, and officers executed a search warrant at the residence as part of the ongoing investigation.
“That search warrant is allowing us to gather evidence, is allowing us to gain clarity,” Schierbaum added to the station.
The chief also noted to WXIA: “The Atlanta Police Department takes gun violence very seriously. It’s been the charge of Mayor [Andre] Dickens to address gun violence in our city; that’s why you see a robust response. But anytime a child is injured in our city, we really take that seriously. And we want to make sure we know what’s happening as individuals being held accountable.”
RELATED: Texas homeowner shoots and kills man trying to steal his car, police say
The station added that the shooting is stirring debate over the use of deadly force to protect property.
Atlanta criminal defense attorney Joshua Schiffer, who is not affiliated with the case, told WXIA that people in Georgia have the right to protect themselves and their property, but deadly force must be justified.
“Were these two young men on the doorstep acting in a violent or threatening manner, or were they running away? What juncture did the homeowner decide to discharge their personal weapon using deadly force, and were they justified? That’s going to depend on the facts,” Schiffer told the station. “At that exact moment, was he realistically and reasonably under an apparent threat?”
Police added to WXIA that charges, if any, will depend on evidence and witness statements gathered as part of its investigation.
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‘True heroes’: Brothers rescue cop from cruiser engulfed in flames — and credit their mother, who taught them the Golden Rule
Atlanta police last week shared a video report they said demonstrates that “in moments of crisis, true heroes emerge.”
On the night of Oct. 21, Officer Malik Safi was responding to a call for backup — but he never arrived at the scene, officials said.
‘I feel extremely proud of them both. I feel like they did exactly what they were taught to do — to help and have empathy for other people.’
Instead, Safi crashed into a house, setting both the residence and his patrol vehicle on fire, officials said.
WSB-TV reported that Safi also suffered serious injuries in the crash and was trapped inside the vehicle.
But fortunately brothers Keshun Robinson and Ryan Beck — and others — were around to help.
In fact, they braved the flames and pulled Safi out of his burning cruiser and to safety. That heroic action is captured, in part, on Safi’s body-worn camera.
“We just went off our heart,” Beck later said. “[It’s] how we was raised, you know. We didn’t want to see nobody suffer in that type of situation. We just hopped out and sprung into action.”
Robinson added, “We just tried to comfort [the officer] and let him know that he wasn’t there by himself.”
But the danger wasn’t over.
Soon gunshots were ringing out — and Robinson said “one of [the officer’s] guns that was in the car actually started going off.”
With that, police said the group had to move Safi yet again, this time pulling him all the way to a sidewalk.
What’s more, an unknown woman seen and heard on Safi’s bodycam video got on police radio and told dispatch he needed help.
WSB said the officer was taken to a hospital, and police noted that the “bravery and selflessness” of the two brothers and the other Good Samaritans “saved Officer Safi’s life.”
Later Beck noted to police that his mother raised him and his brother to live by the Golden Rule: “Treat people how you want to be treated.”
Their mother, Keziah Reed, also appeared in the police department’s video report and said, “I feel extremely proud of them both. I feel like they did exactly what they were taught to do — to help and have empathy for other people.”
Robinson added that perhaps the best part of the experience was when his own son called him a hero. “It means the world to me. It lit up my day. It made me a proud human being — not even [as] a father — just a proud person.”
Police noted that “these residents remind us that community truly means neighbors looking out for one another when it matters most. From all of us at the Atlanta Police Department, thank you for your extraordinary courage.”
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