17-year-old indicted in Barney Simms’ death
A grand jury indicted a man Tuesday accused in the shooting death of community and civil rights activist Barney Simms.
Eric Banks, 17, was charged with murder, armed robbery and other charges after police say he shot and killed Simms outside his home in April.
Simms and Banks met that evening at a Waffle House on Virginia Avenue about an hour before the shooting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Banks' mother urged him to turn himself in after she recognized him from the restaurant's surveillance footage.
Simms was a prominent activist who served on several boards in Atlanta, including the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board and the Board of the Fulton County Division of Family and Children Services. He was also an executive with the Atlanta Housing Authority.
Banks was arrested five days after the shooting. He was in the Fulton County Jail on Tuesday evening.
