A stolen car, two traffic stops and suspected marijuana led to the arrests of two people who Gwinnett authorities said are connected to a shooting that left one man dead and sent another to a hospital with a gunshot wound.
Richie Milord and Matthew-Evan Graham were both arrested after police connected them to the fatal shooting.
Milord, 28, of Duluth is accused of firing the shot that led to the death of Nicolai Manget, as well as a shot that injured Graham, Gwinnett police spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera said.
The incident happened May 4, AJC.com previously reported. Someone called 911 and reported hearing gunshots and screaming at the Prescott Apartments in Duluth about 11:15 p.m., Gwinnett police said. When officers arrived at the complex, which is located in the 1600 block of Centerview Drive, they found two men in the woodline behind the property.
Both had been shot but were alive, police said.
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One of the injured men told detectives they were walking around the apartment community when they were “confronted by a ‘dark, shadowy figure’ and ultimately shot.”
One of the men had a gunshot wound in his shoulder, officers said. The other, who police identified as 20-year-old Manget, was shot in the chest. Both were taken to a hospital. Manget died of his injuries the following day.
Police began to connect the two men to the case when the key to a stolen car was found in an apartment at the same complex soon after the fatal shootings.
Just three days after the shooting, officers were called to the apartment complex again when someone reported hearing multiple gunshots. When officers arrived about 3 a.m., a woman said she thought that a car right next to her balcony had been shot, according to an incident report obtained by AJC.com.
An officer looked around the area and found “several pistol shell casings” in the first floor hallway in front of an apartment. The door had bullet holes in it, and a rifle magazine was found behind the building, according to the report.
Nobody was inside the apartment, but investigators later learned the Milord lived there, Pihera said.
The door had been broken into and re-latched, officers said. When police went inside, they found bullet holes in the floor, walls, doors and windows, according to the incident report.
Detectives also found a set of keys to a white Mercedes that had been reported stolen from a home in unincorporated Duluth, Pihera said.
A woman reported that her white 2011 Mercedes-Benz C300 was stolen from outside her home April 15. According to an incident report, the woman went outside and started the car, and then went back inside the home. When she went back outside, the car was gone, according to the report. The woman said she did not see who took her car, according to the incident report.
An arrest warrant was issued for Graham on a charge of theft by receiving in connection with that stolen vehicle because he lives in the same neighborhood where the vehicle was stolen.
Graham was arrested days later during a traffic stop, police said. An officer pulled over a Nissan Altima on Old Norcross Road May 13, after he saw it speeding, according to an incident report. The driver handed the officer his license, but a passenger in the car didn’t have any identification, the report said. The passenger told the officer his name was Matthew Graham, the report said.
“I was familiar with Graham and knew he had an active warrant out for his arrest,” the incident report said. “I asked Graham to step out of the vehicle, which he did, and he was placed into handcuffs.”
Graham was taken to the Gwinnett jail without incident, according to the report. He is charged with theft by receiving stolen property, hijacking a motor vehicle, four counts of armed robbery, three counts of possession of firearm or knife during commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies, four counts of aggravated assault and two counts of first-degree home invasion.
That day, the lead detective assigned to the case obtained three arrest warrants for Milord on charges of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Investigators accused him of shooting Graham and Manget, Pihera said. She said Graham and Manget were together on the night of the slaying, and both were hit when Milord started shooting.
He was arrested Friday after a traffic stop, according to an incident report.
Milord and another man were inside a white 2019 Toyota Yaris on Lawrenceville Highway, when the deputy pulled the car over. The deputy smelled marijuana coming from the car and searched the vehicle, the incident report said.
During the search, the deputy found “several bags of green leafy material suspected to be marijuana” in a blue backpack that had been sitting on the floorboard between Milord’s legs, the report said. The deputy also found a silver and black handgun in a black holster inside the backpack.
The weapon had been reported stolen, the incident report said.
Milord was arrested on 16 outstanding warrants and faces about 30 charges, including: aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during a felony, use of a firearm by a convicted felon during the commission of a crime, speeding, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, reckless driving, obedience to traffic control devices required, driving within a gore, possession of marijuana less than an ounce, possession of a schedule II controlled substance, hit-and-run, reckless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, improper lane change and felony violation of probation.
Both Graham and Milord remain in the Gwinnett jail without bond.
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