It took more than a year to locate a suspect accused of gunning down a man traveling in a vehicle on Ga. 400. But on Friday, that suspect was in custody, Atlanta police said.
Mayco Rodrique was shot as he rode in a friend’s car on May 17, 2021, investigators said. The father of six and grandfather of two died from his injuries when a bullet entered his back and struck his heart, his family said. Rodrique was 37.
“It was a complete shock,” Kanika Rodrique, his wife of 16 years, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after his death. “He was enjoying life and someone stole that from him. And I’m really upset and angry. What the person who did this does not know is that he stole not only his life but all of the love that we were receiving from him.”
On Wednesday, police charged Eric Lee Gibson, 35, with murder, criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault and discharging a firearm near a roadway. Gibson was arrested Friday in Sandy Springs, according to police.
Investigators did not release a motive for the shooting, but the case is one in an alarming trend involving both drivers and passengers being shot on metro Atlanta interstates and roads.
Her husband had recently moved to Georgia and was working in a restaurant, Kanika Rodrique said. His plan was to move his family to the Atlanta area as soon as possible.
Mayco Rodrique had made mistakes in the past, his wife said. The California native made headlines when he was the victim of police brutality while in a Sacramento jail in 2017.
But he had turned his life around. Rodrique considered his grandchildren — then ages 2 and 3 — to be his best friends, his wife said.
“He found God. And he made a big change,” Kanika Rodrique said. “He had a second chance with his grandchildren and he was making a difference.”
