The family of a woman killed in a weekend robbery in East Point is thanking the good Samaritans who tried to save her and ended up in the middle of gunfire.
East Point police said passers-by saw two men attack 29-year-old Joy Roby in the area of Washington Road and Dodson Drive Connector early Saturday morning. They tried to step in, but shots were fired.
The woman was hit, and police spokeswoman Detective Ebony Johnson said the men continued shooting in the direction of the good Samaritans, possibly as a warning. It appeared Roby was robbed, according to police.
Roby later died at an area hospital. The bystanders were not injured, Johnson said.
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“I just want to thank them so much for trying to save her, even though the criminals who did this to her ... (were) shooting at them as well,” Andrette Sarden, Roby’s aunt, said in an interview with Channel 2 Action News.
Sarden is also pleading with anyone who may know something about the men responsible for her niece’s death “to come forward and help us with closure.” Witnesses could only say they were wearing hooded sweatshirts.
Roby was the mother of an 11-year-old girl. She loved to sing and she was loved by many, Sarden said.
“She was awesome,” Sarden told the news station. “She kept you laughing, fun to be around, always singing.”
On Sunday, the family gathered to pray for answers and place a memorial at the site where Roby was shot. Sarden said she's angry over Roby's senseless death.
"If there was an attempt to rob her, they should have just take(n) what they wanted to take from her,"' she told Channel 2. "They didn't have to kill her. She was innocent."
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.
Police are looking for leads. Anyone with information is asked to contact East Point police at 404-270-7069.
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