Youth gets life sentence for killing Mexican man during robbery

<p>A member of a gang that police say targeted Hispanic workers for robbery has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a Mexican man.</p><p>Byron Patrick Warren, 17, of Smyrna was sentenced Thursday after being convicted last month of murder and armed robbery in the death of Gabriel Rodriguez.</p><p>Rodriguez was found shot to death last August near his truck in an apartment complex. He was the 13th Hispanic man targeted by a robbery gang that had been operating in the area for about six months, said Cobb County police Detective Eddie Herman. All the reported crimes had similarities.</p><p>Like the other victims police knew about, Rodriguez was robbed near his vehicle in an apartment complex. And like the others, Rodriguez was assaulted on a weekend night.</p><p>But Rodriguez was the first to be killed _ none of the other victims was injured in the robberies.</p><p>Warren's accomplices, Timothy Antonio Richardson, 17, and Alonzo Fontay Bumpers, 18, both of Mableton, testified that Warren shot Rodriguez. Those two pleaded guilty and received 20-year sentences.</p><p>Hispanic males are a favorite target of robbers across the Atlanta area, Herman said. They are considered easy prey because they often carry cash and are reluctant to report crimes to police.</p><p>"It is hard for us to find these people, since the victims sometimes are more worried about being deported than losing their money," Herman said.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1d01ba0)</p>