Accused Va-Hi killer's family says he's innocent

Accused killer Tamario Wise had been out of prison less than two weeks when he allegedly launched a violent crime spree that left a man dead, a woman sexually assaulted and several victims of armed robberies, aggravated assaults, carjackings and home invasions.

The 18-year-old Wise has been singled out as the ringleader of a loosely organized group from the Lakewood area of Atlanta, some of them recruited from a “labor pool of criminals” on the actual days of the crimes.

Wise's sister, Chiquitia Wise, t0ld CBS Atlanta that her brother is innocent.

"We just want people to know he's innocent and we are sorry to the Charles Boyer family about what happened and all the other victims that said he did something to them. We do apologize to those people and their families,” Chiquitia Wise said.

Chiquitia told CBS Atlanta that her brother changed in prison and doesn't think he could be responsible for violent crimes he's charged with.

“He’s not violent. He's no ringleader, no gang, no nothing. He's just a nice person,” Chiquitia Wise told CBS Atlanta.

Two other men were also charged with Wise with murdering Charles Boyer Nov. 22 in the Virginia-Highland area of Atlanta, but police did not release their names because they are still investigating the pair for other crimes.

“Make no mistake,” Atlanta police Chief George Turner said when he announced the charges Wednesday against Wise and the two others, “we have removed some very dangerous criminals from the streets of Atlanta.”

Police say the crimes were random; that Wise and his recruits simply drove the streets looking for people to rob.

Wise started a life of crime early. He was 15 when he was convicted in Fulton County on Aug. 21, 2007, of aggravated assault with intent to commit a robbery.

Wise was sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years probation;  he served three years in prison before he was released on parole on Aug. 9. He didn't report to his parole officer, so on Oct. 21 a warrant was issued for his arrest.

“Following the issuance of the warrant, the Parole Board, in conjunction with other law enforcement, was actively seeking the apprehension of Wise,” Parole Board spokesman Steve Hayes said Thursday.

Because Thursday was a state holiday, Hayes was unable to access more detailed records so it was not known if Wise had escaped from an electronic monitor attached to his ankle, which has been reported.

Police suspect Wise and his partners may have committed more than 20 crimes between Aug. 18  and Nov. 27, the day he was taken into custody.

But so far Wise and his suspected accomplices  have only been charged with two of those 20 plus crimes.

Wise is being held without bond in the Fulton County Jail on 22 felony charges -- murder, kidnapping, aggravated sodomy, five counts of aggravated assault, 10 counts of armed robbery, carjacking, false imprisonment, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm while in the commission of a crime. The other two men face murder, aggravated sodomy, armed robbery and other charges, but a complete list of charges was not available.

Wise also has an outstanding arrest warrant in Clayton County for aggravated assault, kidnapping and carjacking. Sgt. Otis Willis said Wise and others stopped a woman on Conley road, took the keys to her 2011 VW and forced her to get in the car with them. They drove to Highway 42 just over the DeKalb County line where they left her on the side of the road on Nov. 12.

Ten days later, Atlanta police say, the trio murdered Boyer, 39, around 10 p.m. on Nov. 22, moments after Boyer and his girlfriend got out of a car in front of her Virginia Avenue Apartment. She escaped unharmed but Boyer was shot in the stomach as he struggled with one of the masked men.

A few hours later, early Nov. 23, police say Wise and his partners committed a home invasion and a sexual assault on Boulevard.

And in the days that followed, there were other crimes police suspect they committed.

Around 7:50 p.m. on Nov. 23, three men accosted David Massey as he was unloading groceries from his car. Massey refused to take them into his Grant Park home, where his wife and daughter were. They shot at Massey but missed. Witness said they saw the men escape in a dark-colored SUV.

Later that night a man walking in the 600 block of Home Avenue encountered three men who forced him to take them into his home where they robbed him. A dark SUV also was spotted in the area.