After a man was found dead in a Gwinnett County church parking lot in July, new details about the grisly shooting have surfaced following an arrest.
Police charged a man Wednesday who they say bound Oscar Alexis Cruz’s hands with duct tape before shooting him about 17 times, according to arrest warrants.
Raymond Cooper, 34, faces a litany of felony charges stemming from the killing, including first-degree home invasion, armed robbery, kidnapping, false imprisonment, malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and battery, jail records show. He remains in the Gwinnett jail without bond.
On July 22, officers were called to the 2400 block of Webb Gin House Road just after 6 a.m. following a 911 call from someone who found Cruz’s body in the parking lot of Cannon United Methodist Church. Police said at the time they did not believe there was a link between the shooting and the church.
According to warrants, Cooper is accused of breaking into Cruz’s home in the 1500 block of Gin Blossom Circle between 1:30 and 3 a.m. While pointing a gun at the 28-year-old man, he demanded money and searched the home for valuable items, the warrant adds.
At some point during the incident, Cooper kidnapped Cruz, bound his hands with duct tape, and later shot him in the head, arms and torso, according to the warrants.
The warrants state the actual shooting occurred at the church, which is about a 10-minute drive from the victim’s home.
— Staff writer Taylor Croft contributed to this article.
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