A man accused of killing another man at a gas station more than two months ago was arrested Friday evening after a SWAT standoff at a Henry County hotel, officials said.
Authorities with the sheriff’s office and police department said they surrounded a Home2 Suites along Mill Road shortly before 5 p.m. after they found out 30-year-old Jamil Hakim Gray was at the hotel. After a five-hour standoff, Gray was taken into custody in connection with a fatal shooting and charged with murder.
On June 30, a fight over a cellphone at a Chevron gas station along Ga. 138 West in unincorporated Stockbridge ended with Fitzgerald Carelus dead, Henry County police said at the time.
Credit: Henry County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Henry County Sheriff's Office
Police spokesman Capt. Randy Lee told Channel 2 Action News that Carelus was sweeping at the station prior to the shooting. After about 10 minutes, Gray walked near the victim with a suitcase and the two got into a verbal fight about a cellphone, Lee said.
“Then at one point, the victim stands up. The suspect pulls a handgun out of his waistband area,” Lee told the news station. “The suspect points and shoots and fires at least one round, hitting the victim in the stomach area.”
Previously released surveillance footage shows Carelus falling to the ground and staggering to get back up. Gray appears to walk away from the scene.
Lee told Channel 2 that Carelus was from New York but had been staying at a homeless encampment nearby with Gray. Carelus survived the initial shooting, but later died at a hospital.
Credit: WSBTV Videos
According to online records, Gray’s criminal history in Fulton County goes back to May 2013 when he was charged with statutory rape and registered as a sex offender in 2015. In July 2017, he was arrested in Fulton for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony and other drug and traffic offenses, records show.
About the Authors
