MARTA shooting suspect arrested after weekend search
After more than 24 hours of searching, police arrested and charged a man Sunday in connection with the shooting on a MARTA train Friday night, the transit agency said Sunday afternoon.
Anthony Tyrone Gresham, 42, was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was booked into the Douglas County jail, officials said in a news release. The transit agency previously said the man was booked in Fulton County.
MARTA police identified him as the shooter who opened fire on another man on a train in Midtown Atlanta, the transit agency said. The incident came a week after another violent attack led to a federal inquiry into MARTA’s safety.
Around 10 a.m. Sunday morning, Gresham was spotted by the FBI’s Atlanta Metro Major Offender Task Force walking along Lee Road, where Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies approached him, officials said in a news release.
He then fled into the woods, around which police established a perimeter and began searching, they said. Douglasville Police, the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia State Patrol joined the search and deployed a K9 unit and an aviation unit, officials said.
Gresham was then “flushed out of the woods and came back onto Lee Road,” where police took him into custody.
The Friday shooting, which injured a 19-year-old, was the latest of several violent incidents on transit property ahead of the FIFA World Cup’s arrival in Atlanta. The teen is expected to make a full recovery, officials said.
Surveillance video appeared to show the suspect and the victim staring at each other on the platform before the victim entered the train and sat down, MARTA Police Chief Scott Kreher told reporters. Moments later, the shooter walked into that same train car, pulled out a gun and shot repeatedly, he said.
Kreher said he believed the shooting was a targeted attack, the AJC previously reported. The victim told police Saturday he didn’t know his attacker, the chief said.
Gresham has been in and out of the state prison system since 2004, according to Georgia Department of Corrections online records. His prior convictions include armed robbery, aggravated assault and various thefts, among others. He was released in November, online records show.
The transit agency has been under scrutiny in recent days about safety ahead of the World Cup, during which Atlanta hosts eight games, starting June 15.
About a week before Friday’s shooting, a 66-year-old woman was stabbed to death on a train in a brutal attack that led the Trump administration earlier this week to launch a probe into MARTA.
That attack was “unprovoked,” officials have said. The woman killed, Margaret Swan, was on a train at Oakland City when a man approached her, drew a knife and slashed her throat, according to the arrest warrant. John Elijah Matthews, 25, was arrested and faces federal and state charges for Swan’s death.
Swan was the second person killed on MARTA properties this year. In April, 16-year-old Xavier Wright was fatally shot at the Oakland City bus loop.
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