Police in southeast Georgia have made an arrest in the death of a Forsyth County high school graduate who was badly beaten and left unconscious outside a Statesboro bar early Thursday.
WSAV-TV reports that Michael Gatto, 18, died around 4 p.m. Thursday.
Police who responded to Rude Rudy’s bar just after midnight Thursday morning found Gatto non-responsive with head injuries, the station reported. He was taken to East Georgia Regional Medical Center, then airlifted to Memorial Medical Center, where he died.
A former bouncer at Rude Rudy’s, 20-year-old Grant James Spencer, was arrested later Thursday and charged with aggravated assault. Gatto’s death is still under investigation.
Gatto was a graduate of South Forsyth High School. The school’s track team tweeted a message Thursday evening saying, “Michael Gatto was an integral part of our track program for 4 years. He was a tremendous young man and will be missed by all that knew him.”
Gatto’s public Facebook page indicates that he attended Georgia Southern University in Statesboro.
Rude Rudy’s posted a message on the bar’s Facebook page that said “Our deepest sympathies and prayers go out to the Gatto family. At the time of the incident, the employee in question was not working. His employment at Rude Rudy’s has since been terminated.”
Spencer attended Dunwoody High School, and transferred his junior year to Johns Creek High School. He was on the wrestling teams at both schools.
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