Police: Victim in Roswell killing not intended target

By LARRY HARTSTEIN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After spending her entire life in Yonkers, Fantasia Byrd decided to explore the world, starting in Atlanta. The 20-year-old had just graduated from community college.

“She wanted to see what the world has to offer,” her uncle, Jerry Williams, said Monday.

Byrd’s life ended just two weeks into that journey, killed when a barrage of bullets was fired into a Roswell apartment.

Byrd, her cousin and three others were playing a board game in her cousin’s Chattahoochee Landing apartment around 3 a.m. Sunday. From the parking lot, someone fired at least 20 rounds at the apartment, Roswell police said.

One shot hit Byrd in the head.

“We believe it was not a random shooting, and we also believe that the victim was not the intended target,” Sgt. Bobby Brackett said.

He would not elaborate on the possible target.

Remarkably, no one else was hurt.

“The apartment below was struck, vehicles in the parking lot were struck and some rounds went through the apartment,” Brackett said.

Byrd had moved in with her father in Dacula and was working at Oilily, a women’s and children’s clothing store at Phipps Plaza. She enjoyed working in retail because she was outgoing, her uncle said. And she was already interviewing for a second job.

“She never worked one job,” Williams said. “She was always like, ‘I can do more.’ She’d work four hours at one job, eight hours at another.”

Her relatives in Georgia were thrilled to have her here, and “she had gotten off to a great start. Everything was falling into place.”

The killing has left Byrd’s mother “torn to pieces,” Williams said.

“One of the most important things we’re going to take away is how a strong a person Fantasia was at 20 years old, and that million-dollar smile.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Roswell Police at 770-640-4100 or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS.