Atlanta police on Wednesday arrested three teenagers after linking them to two violent robberies in Midtown in which victims were attacked from behind and stabbed.
Then, hours later, investigators linked the trio to a third incident near the Buckhead MARTA station in early July, according to Atlanta police.
The latest robbery Saturday morning left a man with a collapsed lung. The victim, who did not want to be identified, confirmed to AJC.com he was walking near Piedmont Park on his way to the Midtown MARTA station when he was ambushed. He was still hospitalized Wednesday at Atlanta Medical Center but is stable, police said.
The victim in the second case, who was attacked on Peachtree Street on July 18, was also treated for multiple stab wounds but is expected to recover. The third case was not connected until Wednesday afternoon, after Atlanta police spokesman Sgt. John Chafee announced the arrests.
In all three, Chafee said the victims were approached from behind and placed in a chokehold.
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“Investigators are actually currently still working this investigation,” Chafee said. “There’s a lot that goes into this, and we were able to identify a third robbery that we believe these three are involved in ... and we anticipate charges on that.”
The suspects were identified as 18-year-old Malica Astin, 19-year-old Sahib Russell and 18-year-old Ricardo Randolph.
Investigators took warrants out for their arrest Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning, Chafee said the department’s fugitive unit had apprehended them.
They are each facing charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault related to strangulation, armed robbery, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony and battery causing substantial physical harm in relation to the two most recent incidents.
The victim in the Saturday attack reported giving up his wallet, cellphone and his passcode after his attackers choked him, stabbed him multiple times and repeatedly kicked him on the ground. Chafee said the attackers in the July 18 incident, which occurred two blocks north of the Fox Theatre, first invited the victim to a party before demanding cash and assaulting him.
It was during the execution of search warrants related to the two Midtown attacks that investigators linked the trio to the incident in Buckhead on July 2.
“Evidence was discovered that led them to the third case, and in reviewing that case, they realized that there were some similarities in there, the description and the method used in how they approached the (victim) was very similar,” he said.
The victim in the Buckhead robbery was not stabbed, but she told police she was also grabbed from behind and put in a chokehold. She said she was running on Peachtree Road to catch a MARTA train at the time, according to a police report released Wednesday.
She struggled with two men as they grabbed at her purse before a third man joined in, police said. The man with his hands around her throat began to squeeze tighter, she told investigators, and she let go of her purse.
She reported bruises and pain in her leg but refused medical attention, according to the report. She later noted unauthorized transactions on her credit card for purchases from Uber Eats, McDonald’s and Metro PCS in the Atlanta area.
The transactions were crucial to breaking all three cases, Chafee said.
“In each of those cases, the victim's credit card was taken and the suspects basically left a trail behind that we were able to follow and identify them,” he said.
Astin, Russell and Randolph were expected to be booked into the Fulton County Jail. Additional charges are expected but have not been filed in the July 2 incident, according to police.
— Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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