Arrest in bar killing

By Megan Matteucci and Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta police have arrested a teenager and are looking for three more suspected gang members believed to be responsible for the slaying of a Grant Park bartender.

Police have charged Jonathan Redding, 17, of Atlanta, with felony murder and other offenses in the Jan. 7 killing of John Henderson, who was gunned down at the Standard Food & Spirits on Memorial Drive.

Lt. Keith Meadows described Redding, who has a juvenile record, as a suspected member of the 30 Deep street gang, which hangs out in the Mechanicsville section of Atlanta. Redding has a tattoo on his cheek that says "30."

In addition to the bartender's killing, Redding has been charged in a Dec. 21 armed robbery of an employee outside the same Grant Park bar and a Jan. 9 home invasion in southwest Atlanta.

"It saddens us to see so many young people involved," said Meadows, a homicide detective.

Police connected Redding to Henderson's killing after one of two guns used in the slaying was used days later in a home invasion.

The homeowner, 34-year-old Eddie Pugh, fired back at Redding with an AK-47, striking him in the shoulder.

Redding left blood and a damaged gun at the scene, Meadows said.

U.S. Marshals arrested Redding on April 10 in connection with the home invasion.

James M. Ergas, a supervisory inspector for the Marshals Service, said about 30 investigators spent months tracking leads before linking the shell casings from the gun left at the home invasion to the Henderson killing.

Chief Richard Pennington said Redding has been charged with one count of felony murder; six counts of armed robbery; four counts of aggravated assault; three counts of theft; two counts of false imprisonment; two counts of burglary; two counts of criminal damage to property; and two counts of possession of a firearm during a felony.

On Friday, a judge denied bond for Redding.

The chief hopes a $50,000 reward will bring in more information and lead to the arrests of the other three suspects.

Meanwhile, Pugh, the man who wounded Redding in the home invasion, has gone into hiding, fearing his attacker's partners will return, neighbors said.

According to a police report, several men in a gold Impala opened fire on Pugh and his cousin Robert Reed. Pugh was struck in the hip.

The windows in Pugh's apartment on Plaza Lane in southwest Atlanta have been shot out, and a bullet hole is in the center of his back door.

Neighbor Terry Williams said she and her daughter were on the porch Jan. 9 when she heard "three to four shots" and ran inside her unit.

The guns used in the Henderson killing were a 9mm Smith & Wesson stolen in October from a construction worker's vehicle in Atlanta and a 9mm Glock owned by Ashley Elder, another bartender at Standard the night of the killing. Police are still looking for Elder's gun.

Police say Henderson, 27, was shot once in the head and twice in the leg. They did not disclose which gun fired the fatal shot.

Donald Henderson, the victim's father, said police told him Redding shot his son in the leg.

"The person arrested is not the person who killed my son," Henderson said from his home in Gwynn Oak, Md.

Police said John Henderson was shot even though he complied with the robbers' demands. Henderson and Elder were getting ready to close the bar when the assailants broke through its glass door, police said.

Standard owner Chris Johnson, who learned about the arrest early Friday, said he is relieved, but waiting for the other arrests.

"It doesn't make for a happy ending," Johnson said Friday as he helped with the lunch crowd. "It just makes for an ending."

Johnson said he doubts he and his staff will ever sleep well again.

The lunch crowd Friday at Standard was surprised to find reporters and TV news trucks camped out in front of the bar.

Tim Truxell, who lives across the street from the bar, was working from home Friday and decided to walk over for lunch.

"I've lived here for a while, and it's a fact (crime) you have to deal with. But a few months prior to that (the shooting) it seemed like crime was ramping up every day," Truxell said. "This was a culmination of everything."

Truxell, an Internet consultant, said his wife is "a little scared" and they are more careful, but he's never thought about leaving Grant Park. "I love this neighborhood," he said.

Kyle Keyser, who formed Atlantans Together Against Crime because of his frustration over Henderson's death, said the news of the arrest was bittersweet.

"John Henderson's murder was a big part of the tipping point that brought Atlantans together against crime," Keyser said. "It's a bittersweet moment for me because you don't want to celebrate the arrest of someone, but at the end of the day, it's nice to know our efforts ... increased the reward."

Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this article.