The fifth and final defendant in a pair of gang retaliation shootings in a Kennesaw subdivision has pleaded guilty.
The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday that 21-year-old Brian Joshua McCary pleaded guilty Thursday to eight counts of violation of Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with 15 more on probation.
Authorities believe McCary ordered the Nov. 16, 2013, and Jan. 12, 2014, shootings at a home in Kennesaw’s Legacy Park subdivision. McCary was a leader of Kennesaw’s PIRU subset of the Bloods gang, prosecutors said, and the shootings — during which no one was hurt — were orchestrated “in part to increase the gang’s reputation through fear.”
Four other suspects in the case previously pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from five years on probation to 15 years in prison.
“This case demonstrates not only my office’s resolve when it comes to gang cases, but how powerful Georgia’s anti-gang laws are when properly used,” Cobb County District Attorney Reynolds said in an emailed statement. “During this case, we learned that the PIRU gang activities in Kennesaw were orchestrated by gang leadership in California.”
In September, Reynolds told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that gang activity in Cobb County was "reaching a crisis point," and that squelching it was a priority. A member of FBI's Atlanta's Safe Streets Gang Task Force said at the time there were an estimated 20,000 gang members in metro Atlanta — a significant increase since 2000.
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