Update: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned that the teens arrested Monday night after the eight-hour SWAT stand-off in southwest Atlanta, Oshlushla Smith and Cutrez Johnson, are brothers whose 9-month-old nephew was shot and killed Saturday night during a violent home invasion at To Lani Farm Road in DeKalb County.
Police said Smith and Johnson are charged with murder in connection with the May 3 shooting death of Michael Phillips. Another teen, Kemontay Cullins was already jailed on the same charge in relation to the death.
Kayla Dixon, police said, surrendered Monday night to police and is charged with felony murder in connection with the shooting death of Alexis Malone, whom investigators believe was killed sometime before May 10 because she witnessed Phillips’ slaying. Dixon is being held at the DeKalb County jail without bond.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Police officers rushed into a southwest Atlanta hotel room late Monday, ending an hours-long standoff involving two suspects in recent deadly crimes in DeKalb County.
Four people — the two homicide suspects, one of their girlfriends and a 5-year-old boy — spent hours at the Travel Inn on Forrest Hills Drive during the Monday standoff with officers from three agencies.
Cutrez Johnson, 16, and Oslushla Smith, 19, were arrested late Monday at the hotel, which is off Cleveland Avenue, DeKalb public safety director Cedric Alexander said. Johnson and Smith have been charged with murder in connection with a May 3 homicide. Police believe they are also conncected to a May 10 homicide, which might be linked to a weekend home invasion that left a 9-month-old dead and injured three adults, Alexander said.
Police believe the home invasion was in retaliation for the May 10 shooting, according to DeKalb police.
“We are pretty certain that the arrests that have been made will help us with the continuation of the investigation,” Alexander said. “There’s still an ongoing investigation going on in the death of that child.”
A woman, whose name was not released, was taken in for questioning, Alexander said. She is the mother of the boy who had been in the room, but it was not immediately known if the two were being held against their will, police said. The child was released to his grandmother and was not injured.
U.S. Marshals were attempting to arrest the suspects at the hotel when they barricaded themselves inside a room Monday afternoon, Gavin Duffy, U.S. Marshals Service spokesman, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
An Atlanta police SWAT team was called to the scene to assist with negotiations, Duffy said. DeKalb County officers were also at the scene.
Those negotiations lasted throughout the night Monday, as people claiming to be family members pleaded publicly for those inside the room to surrender. But the standoff continued.
There was an increase in activity at the hotel around 10:45 p.m. when about a dozen DeKalb County vehicles arrived as a loud alarm sounded.
Around 11:30 p.m., officers entered the room, injuring one person inside, according to police.
“As a result of us gaining entry to the room, the windows were blown out,” Deputy Chief Shawn Jones said.
One man was brought out of the room on a stretcher and was transported to the hospital for treatment, Alexander said. The extent of his injuries was not known, but he was in stable condition at the scene, police said.
Timeline of DeKalb crime spree
May 3: Michael Phillips, 29, was fatally shot at a party in south DeKalb. Cutrez Johnson, 16; Oslushla Smith, 19; and Kemontay Cullins, 18, were identified as suspects in the shooting.
May 10: The body of Alexis Malone was found on Agape Way in DeKalb. Investigators told Channel 2 Action News that Johnson, Smith and Cullins killed Malone, 19, because she knew something about the May 3 party shooting. Kayla Dixon, 20, was identified as a "person of interest." Cullins was arrested.
May 10: Police said three or four men kicked in the back door of a home on To Lani Farm Road sometime after 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Police believe the killing of Malone prompted the home invasion. Johnson and Smith either lived in the home or "had connections" to the home, police said. Four people were shot during the home invasion. Three women were critically injured. A 9-month-old boy, identified by Channel 2 as Kendarius Edwards, was killed.
May 11: Two people were killed and three others were injured in a drive-by shooting. The drive-by shooting was not related to the home invasion or the deaths of Malone and Phillips.
May 12: Smith, Johnson and one of their girlfriends were taken into custody at the end of an 8-hour standoff at a southwest Atlanta hotel. Police announced Kayla Dixon, 20, originally identified as a "person of interest" in Malone's death, was wanted on murder charges. Dixon surrendered to DeKalb authorities.
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