Two men were sentenced to prison Tuesday in the 2020 death of a DeKalb County convenience store owner, officials said.
Ronnie Miller, 46, and Ricky Character, 24, were convicted July 1 of murder, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. They were both sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the death of Tesfaye Birru, the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office announced.
Birru, 57, owned the Tic Toc food mart on Evans Mill Road, where he was found shot to death Feb. 19, 2020, around 10 p.m. The keys to the store were still in his hand, and a gun and holster were found near his body, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Claire Chaffins said.
Surveillance footage of the incident revealed that three armed masked men drove to the location and waited in the parking lot for Birru to lock up.
One of the men, who was wearing a camouflage jacket and blue shoes, then ran up to the victim, Chaffins said. When Birru attempted to pull out his gun, the suspect shot him, officials stated. Another suspect emerged from around an ice bin and shot Birru in the head, Chaffins added.
The three then fled the scene in the vehicle.
DeKalb police officers first identified Miller as a suspect, and a search warrant turned up the jacket, shoes and ski mask that were seen on surveillance. Phone data also placed Miller at the store at the time of the incident, Chaffins confirmed.
The DA’s office identified Character as a suspect while looking through Miller’s phone contacts. Chaffins said officials found that Miller and Character spoke before and after the shooting, and phone data also placed him at the scene. He also made “incriminating statements on social media that implicated” his involvement, authorities said.
At the time of his death, Birru had been married to Worke Serete for 23 years. She told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2020 that she had spoken to her husband before the shooting and he had told her that he was on his way home.
His son, Amanuel Chernet, who was 14 at the time, described Birru as “the best dad anyone could ever have.”
Miller was convicted on additional counts of murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. On top of the life sentence, he was given another 45 years and Character got an extra 35.
A third suspect remains unidentified.
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