The Fulton County District Attorney's Office says eight of the defendants are members of a New Orleans-based street gang. The grand jury returned a 39-count indictment including seven counts of murder.
Among the alleged murders is the April 2006 killing of an Iraq war veteran who was found shot to death in his SUV in downtown Atlanta. The indictment alleges that he was killed by two of the defendants -- Daquan Stevens and Marciell Easterling -- who may have been conducting a ``target practice.''
Authorities say 24-year-old Ryan Harmon of Lithonia had returned from a tour of duty in Iraq 13 months earlier. At least ten bullet holes punctured the rear of his S-U-V. Authorities believe he was shot somewhere else and managed to drive to the intersection where he crashed. Harmon worked primarily at Fort Gillem as a private security contractor after getting out of the Army Reserve in September 2005.
The indictment also charges that five of the defendants conspired to kill Randy Renar Griffin -- who was a witness in a Fulton County Superior Court case -- on June tenth, 2007, outside the Club 112 on Peachtree and 12th Streets.
Named in the indictment are Stevens, Easterling, Maurice Hargrove, Edward Morris, Ashton Walter Mitchell, Jeremy Dunn, Vincent Morris, Carlos Drenon and Tiffany Bakston.
Among the charges are multiple county of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, illegal possession of firearms and participation in criminal street gang activity.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/11/203589