The victim in a violent home invasion is calling her 12-year-old son a hero after he hid in the attic of the southwest Atlanta house and called 911 on his cell phone.
“I crawled all the way through here,” Kenyatta Cosby told Channel 2 Action News, recalling how he made his way through the dusty, insulation-filled crawl space in the attic of the Catherine Street home.
“I’m on the phone with the police,” Kenyatta said. “We’re getting robbed! We’re getting robbed!”
The incident happened just after midnight Thursday when three men forced their way into the boy’s home and robbed his mother and one of her friends.
“When [Kenyatta] heard someone kick the door in, he was able to run up into the attic of the house and he called 911,” Atlanta police Capt. Adam Lee III told Channel 2.
Lee said the suspects held guns to the heads of two women, and “one of them sustained an injury to her right eye when she was apparently struck across the face with one of the weapons.”
Police spokeswoman Kim Jones said the suspects also restrained that woman with duct tape, and stole purses from the two women.
During his 11-minute call to 911 from his cellphone, Kenyatta can be heard whispering to the operator while a commotion is heard in the background. Atlanta police released audio of the call Thursday afternoon.
Kenyatta’s mother, Shereka Austin, told Channel 2 that she belives her son saved her life.
“That’s the only thing I could think of,” Austin siad. “He may not be a hero to anybody else, but he’s definitely my hero, because I knew I was about to die.”
As officers arrived, a woman in a getaway car called one of the intruders and alerted him that police were driving up, Lee told Channel 2.
The home invaders ran out of the house and split up, with one of them running into nearby woods, one getting into a black Chrysler Pacifica and the third getting into the getaway car, a Ford Mustang.
“As additional units arrived at the location, the Mustang proceeded towards one of the patrol vehicles,” Jones said.
She said the officer swerved onto the sidewalk to avoid a collision, then followed the Mustang and radioed for additional assistance from Atlanta officers and the Georgia State Patrol.
A pursuit that began on Ga. 166 ended about 18 miles away when the woman drove the Mustang into a field on Campbellton-Fairburn Road in Fairburn, Jones said.
The woman stayed in the car and was apprehended, while the suspect riding with her ran into nearby woods. Police set up a perimeter, but a tracking dog was unable to locate the suspect, Jones said.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capture anyone but the female who was driving the vehicle,” Lee said.
The Mustang driver, identified as 25-year-old Minerva Riche, was charged with aggravated assault, burglary, false imprisonment, robbery, reckless driving and fleeing/attempting to elude police. She waived her first court appearance Friday morning. Her next court date is scheduled for Nov. 2, according to Tracy Flanagan with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.
Jones said that in the rear of the residence, investigators recovered an AK-47 assault rifle containing 28 rounds of ammunition and a Beretta .40 caliber handgun containing 13 rounds. Police also found two purses, one containing $500, that had been stolen from the victims.
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