A Marietta man was convicted Thursday of shooting at people driving in their cars as an act of gang loyalty, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said.
Johannes Alexander Lopez, 27, a member of the criminal street gang SUR 13, was involved in two separate shootings of innocent people in September 2013, authorities said. He allegedly shot at them because their cars were the same color as of one of SUR 13’s rival gangs. SUR 13’s color is blue and the color of its rival gang is red.
In the first incident, two unidentified people from Lopez’s vehicle shot at a red car driven by a pregnant woman and her husband on Bankhead Highway. Later that day, on Hicks Road, a shotgun was fired from Lopez’s Ford Explorer at another red car.
None of the four people in the two vehicles that were shot at was hurt. Gun ballistics was matched to one of the crime scenes and Lopez was arrested.
Gang experts testified Lopez has an extensive criminal history related to his gang membership, authorities said. He had been released from prison in May 2013 after an earlier felony conviction in Cobb. The experts testified that when a gang member gets out of prison, he is expected to reestablish himself through acts of violence.
Experts said SUR 13 has 75,000 members in the United States who commit crimes ranging from murder to narcotics trafficking, and said SUR 13 has a long criminal history in metro Atlanta, including Cobb.
Lopez faced charges including violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, aggravated assault, firearms possession, and criminal damage to property in the first degree.
Lopez is to be sentenced Friday. He faces more than 300 years in prison.
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