<p>Members of the Hispanic community expressed relief and hailed the arrests of three people who allegedly murdered six immigrant workers during a string of home-invasions against Mexican immigrants at south Georgia trailer parks last week.</p><p>Stacy Bernard Sims, 19, Jamie Underwood, 27, and Jennifer Wilson, 26, had each been charged with six counts of murder stemming from the deadly attacks in Tift County, authorities announced Wednesday. A court hearing for the three, all from Moultrie, Ga., was scheduled Wednesday afternoon.</p><p>Sims and Underwood were arrested Tuesday and accused of shooting and beating a Hispanic man and raping his wife in neighboring Colquitt County on the same night of the killings.</p><p>Authorities said they believe Sims and Underwood may have been part of an armed-robbery gang that preyed on immigrant workers, who often carry large sums of cash because they lack documents that some banks require to open accounts.</p><p>Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said there have been about 20 home invasions targeting Hispanics in adjoining Tift, Colquitt and Cook counties within the past three months but the slayings were "some of the most vicious the state has ever witnessed."</p><p>The six slain victims were identified as Mateo Gomez, 54; Filipe Mauricio Esparza, 32; Armando Perez Martinez, 25; Jose Luis Tias, 20; Mauricio Florindo, age unknown; and Guadalupe Sanchez, age unknown.</p><p>Four other immigrant workers, including the man who was shot and beaten, were injured. They have not been identified.</p><p>"It's tragic and sad," said Tift County Sheriff Gary Vowell. "Even though these heinous acts were committed in our Hispanic community, it's affected our whole community."</p><p>Alfonso Gutierrez, a Columbian-born priest at Tifton's Our Divine Savior Catholic Church, said Hispanic families were still shaken by the attacks early Friday at three trailer parks in Tift County and one in neighboring Colquitt County.</p><p>"The families are very scared about this situation, especially the children," he said as he thanked law-enforcement officials who announced the arrests Wednesday at a news conference. "I hope the arrests will stop the attacks on Hispanics."</p><p>Law enforcement officials said the investigation is continuing but they declined to discuss the possibility of more arrests.</p><p>"The job is not complete," Vowell said.</p><p>Sims and Underwood were arrested Sunday and accused of shooting and beating a Hispanic man and raping his wife in neighboring Colquitt County the same morning of the killings. Their arrests were not announced until Tuesday, when Wilson was arrested.</p><p>"This gentleman was beaten and shot in the head and left for dead," said Colquitt County Sheriff Al Whittington. "In Colquitt County, we're not accustomed to things like this. But times have changed. We're going to have the criminal element."</p><p>Vowell said the attacks were the most brutal he had seen in his 30 years of law-enforcement.</p><p>"This was a great birthday present," said Vowell, who turned 51 on Wednesday, of the arrests. "What's more important is that we're calming the fears in our community."</p><p>Officials of the Mexican consulate in Atlanta have been working to transport the victims' bodies to Mexico for burial.</p><p>Efrain Navarro Gomez, 25, arrived in Tifton only a month ago from his native Nicaurauga and had shared a trailer with two of the victims.</p><p>He said he heard screams and metallic thuds as the intruders beat one man with a baseball bat and later heard two shots. His trailer mate, Martinez, was killed and the other man was injured.</p><p>Gomez said he ran out of the trailer past and knocked on doors, trying to get help, but no one opened their doors.</p><p>"Thank God I was able to escape," he said through an interpreter. "I decided to sleep in the bushes. I was afraid they'd think I was the guilty one."</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cde704)</p>
