The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office is launching a new crimefighting unit dedicated to prosecuting suspected gang members, citing the killing of a Gwinnett police officer by an alleged gang member as evidence of a problem in the county.
The existing Drug Task Force will be expanded into the Drug and Gang Task Force. The Drug Task Force’s prosecution of cases involving drug cartels have given its staff the expertise needed to focus more closely on the gangs themselves, a press release from the DA’s office said.
Three prosecutors, three investigators, a legal assistant and an electronic evidence assistant district attorney from the existing drug task force will move their focus to gangs, said Lisa Jones, chief assistant district attorney for Gwinnett County.
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“Gangs have had a presence in Gwinnett County for several years, and (District Attorney Danny) Porter is answering the complaints of the Gwinnett citizens that actually live with the threat of gangs in their neighborhoods and schools,” the DA’s office said in a press release. “Early responses to things that are seemingly innocuous like graffiti and petty theft hopefully prevent the egregious escalation to violence.”
Porter will run for his seventh term as district attorney in the 2020 election.
The DA’s office cited the October killing of Officer Antwan Toney as evidence of the threat of gang violence in Gwinnett. Toney, an officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department, was shot and killed when responding to the report of a suspicious vehicle near Shiloh High School.
Police identified Tafahree Maynard as the shooter. The DA's office said Friday that Maynard was a known leader of the gang Kutt Throat 53. Maynard was killed by police two days after Toney's death. The man who allegedly drove the car from which the shots were fired, Isaiah Pretlow, has been charged with multiple counts of gang activity.
The Gwinnett County Police Department knew Maynard was in a gang before Toney was killed and consider the death "a homicide committed by a gang member," said Cpl. Michele Pihera, a department spokeswoman.
Porter intends the new task force to work closely with local law enforcement agencies to identify gang members, prevent gang activity and prosecute those who commit gang-related crimes, the release said. The team will utilize data and “intelligence platforms” to collect information about gangs operating across county lines, according to the DA’s office. Public training events are also planned for the future so parents, teachers and other adults can recognize when young people may be involved with gang activity.
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