A man accused of killing a construction worker outside a Kroger store in Atlanta told police he had little memory of the shooting, a detective testified Friday.
Channel 2 Action News reported that Atlanta Det. Summer Benton testified Damarius Thompson said he suffered from mental illnesses including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The detective also testified that she believed that Joshua R. Richey was killed with his own handgun that apparently was in his truck which the thief was rifling, the television station reported.
Richey was shot in the chest outside the store at 725 Ponce de Leon on March 10. The market has been called the “Murder Kroger” because of crime in the area. Police believe the fatal shooting followed an attempt to steal his truck.
“When Mr Richey got so close he got scared and fired the weapon,” testified Benton.
Thompson’s fingerprints were found on the pistol and tipsters told police Thompson had confessed to the killing, Benton testified.
Jason Shelton, Richey’s co-worker, previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he felt more secure because the 38-year Alabama man had the gun at the work site for protection.
Richey’s wife and mother broke into tears at the preliminary hearing in Fulton County magistrate court. His mother said she wanted Thompson, a man with a long criminal record, to get the death penalty, Channel 2 reported. “He took my life away. He was my baby,” the mother, Barbara Green, told Channel 2.
A magistrate ruled enough evidence existed to send the case the grand jury for possible indictment.
Meanwhile, a second man was arrested in the killing, Atlanta police said Friday.
Shontavious Chestnut, 25, was arrested Thursday by the U.S Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force at a relative’s home in Pensacola, Fla., following information on his location from an Atlanta police investigator, police spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an emailed statement.
“After briefly barricading himself inside the residence,” she said, “he gave up and was taken into custody without incident.”
Richey was working on a construction job at the Kroger grocery on Ponce de Leon Avenue on March 10,when he and a co-worker spotted someone inside their truck. Richey, a father of four, was killed when he confronted a man in the truck.
Chestnut has been identified as the driver of a BMW that brought the alleged criminals to the Kroger, Espy said.
“He will be charged with felony murder (for) taking part in the death of Mr. Joshua Richey,” Espy said.
A friend had loaned the BMW to Thompson the previous day, Benton testified.
Thompson, 25,was arrested March 26 while eating lunch at a Popeyes Restaurant at Lee and Oak streets in Atlanta. Thompson, who has a long history of arrests, had recently been released from prison before the Kroger killing.
Kroger’s Atlanta Division offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed Richey. The supermarket chain has been trying to polish the image of the store known as “Murder Kroger” because of past crimes in the neighborhood.
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