DA: DeKalb gangster sentenced for killing teen, leaving body in woods

Christopher Kenyatta, left, died in July 2016 at a Stone Mountain apartment complex, and police say Kerri Redding, right, confessed to shooting him.

Christopher Kenyatta, left, died in July 2016 at a Stone Mountain apartment complex, and police say Kerri Redding, right, confessed to shooting him.

A reputed Gangster Disciples member was sentenced to life plus five years Tuesday after being convicted of murder in the death of a teenager over money.

Christopher Kenyatta, 19, was found dead, with gunshot wounds to the chest and head on July 6, 2016. He lay on a path between two Stone Mountain-area apartment complexes, The Reserves at Stone Creek and Ashland Pines.

“For everything I know and love, I would trade places with my grandson,” Mary Kenyatta said last year. “He did not deserve that.”

Kerri Redding, 26, confessed to the shooting, police have said.

According to the investigation, Redding and Kenyatta had an on-going dispute over money. Witnesses reported hearing Redding threaten to “get a gun and shoot” the teen during one of their arguments, the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement, which didn’t reveal what the money was for.

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“The last confrontation between the men occurred just three days prior to the fatal shooting,” DA’s spokeswoman Yvette Jones said. “Following several tips and evidence linking him to the crime, defendant Redding was identified as the shooter and later arrested in Alabama by a fugitive squad from DeKalb County.”

The jury convicted him on Friday and Judge Gail Flake handed down the sentence.

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