Hall County authorities on Wednesday arrested six suspects in connection with a series of vehicle thefts and entering autos in the Oakwood area.
Hall County Sheriff's Office public information officer B.J. Williams said deputies responded to I-985 near Exit 16 just before 4 a.m. after a 911 caller told Hall County Dispatch about some suspicious activity on the interstate.
Deputies found three vehicles stopped on the southbound shoulder along with the six suspects when they arrived. All of the suspects fled when the deputies activated the lights on their patrol cars in order to divert traffic.
Three of the suspects, Malachi Campbell, 17, of Stone Mountain, John Pritchett, 17, of Stone Mountain, and a 15-year-old were quickly arrested. Two others, Marquarius Davis, 17, of Stone Mountain, and a 16-year-old were arrested shortly after at the McDonald's on Frontage Road. The sixth suspect, a 15-year-old, was arrested a few hours later on Davis Street in Gainesville.
Hall County investigators learned the suspects had traveled to Hall County in one of the vehicles found stopped on the highway, a Ford Escape. That vehicle was later determined to be stolen from DeKalb County. A Mercury SUV and a Cadillac sedan, also stopped on the highway, had been stolen from The Walden apartments in Oakwood.
Officer Chris Campbell with the Oakwood Police Department said the suspects also committed three entering autos at The Walden apartments during the theft of the two vehicles.
The three adult suspects were booked into the Hall County Jail, while the three juveniles were being held at the Regional Youth Detention Center in Gainesville.
