After being on the run for more than a year, a teenager accused of gunning down a man in a Marietta street last year was apprehended Tuesday morning by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Federal agents and tactical officers from the North Fulton SWAT team swarmed a residence in East Point to arrest 18-year-old Donald Bernard Bannister, according to Marietta police spokesman Officer Chuck McPhilamy.
Police investigated the June 15, 2021 shooting in the 1600 block of Massachusetts Avenue. Norval Bailey, 30, was found lying unresponsive in the street with a gunshot wound. He later died at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.
Bannister’s arrest warrant indicated he was a member of the Bloods street gang. McPhilamy said he was known as “Lil Ghost.”
Detectives identified Bannister as one of three suspects and secured warrants for his arrest in July 2021. Police requested that marshals help track down the Marietta teen after the trail went cold.
“Our investigators stayed on with the case and were able to come up with a location within the past 24 hours,” McPhilamy said Tuesday afternoon. “They worked with the U.S. Marshals (Service) in order to capture the suspect and make the arrest.”
Bannister faces charges from the original warrants, which include malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He remained jailed without bond in Cobb County on Tuesday evening, online booking records show.
According to the charging affidavits, Bannister shot Bailey in the chest after the two fought and then fled the scene in the victim’s 2015 Chrysler 200. Investigators noted in the warrant that an unknown woman was a passenger in the vehicle at the time.
Police said three people were connected to the shooting early in the investigation. They arrested 30-year-old Sherman Johnson, Bannister’s alleged accomplice, days after the shooting. He was charged with tampering with evidence. Johnson has since been released on bond.
Investigators did not release the name of the third suspect.
