Atlanta police have a sketch of one of the two people who attacked the sister-in-law of Martin Luther King Jr. earlier this month, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Detective Terrance Epps told Channel 2 that he hopes the sketch combined with a $5,000 reward will bring about the arrest of the people who assaulted 83-year-old Naomi King, widow of A.D. King.
The two men cut through the woods when they tried to carjack King outside the gate of her southwest Atlanta retirement community Oct. 9, Epps said.
Even after the man, or teen, punched King twice in the mouth, drawing blood, when she refused to hand over her car keys, she still spoke of the “loving message of Jesus,” Channel 2 reported.
King described a man to Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s forensic artist Kelly Lawson as being between 15 and 20 years old, medium brown complexion, approximately 5-foot-6 with a thin build, and no noticeable facial hair, Epps said.
The thief “demanded her car and told her he was going to bust her in the mouth,” Lena Reid Morrow, a witness, told the television station. “Before she could say anything, he had hit her in the mouth and was looking to see where her purse was in the car. But he could not see that so he turned and hit her again and by this time she was screaming.”
King’s neighbors at Big Bethel Village reported attacks are becoming common. National Church Residences, the management company, is taking steps to provide better security, the television station reported.
Among the steps cited in a company letter to residents:
- Improved lighting. "We've started a Dusk-to-Dawn campaign, asking you to turn on your porch lights at 6 p.m. At the police department's recommendation, we are installing a flood light behind the property that will be aimed at the back fence."
- Gate and fence improvements.
- Personal safety training.
- Security officer. "We also have asked the police to see if an officer would like to live at Big Bethel for free or reduced rent," the letter said.
King, who has lived in the retirement community since 2010, is the widow of the Rev. A.D. King, the younger brother of the civil rights champion. The couple was in the thick of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and their home was bombed.
Within 24 hours of her assault at the community at 500 Richard Allen Blvd., top city officials had visited with residents, management had promised significant security changes, and the victim had vowed "no ill will" toward her assailants.
Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin, head of the council’s public safety committee, said he and Atlanta Police Chief George Turner visited King the day after the attack.
The attack left residents shaken but, in a statement released shortly after the incident, King asked for “justice rather than revenge.”
“Yes, there must be justice for this tragic attack,” King said. “Yet we must seek solutions and opportunities for our youth so that others don’t choose this hopeless path that my attacker sought.”
Anyone with information on the case can contact Crime Stoppers Atlanta by calling 404-577-TIPS (8477), going online to www.crimestoppersatlanta.org or texting CSA and the tip to CRIMES (274637). Tipsters can remain anonymous and still be eligible for a reward for the arrest and indictment of the suspects.
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