Wrecking employees from Quick Drop Impounding said they never saw Philmore Reed the first time they went to the Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway property to remove old cars from the lot.
“The sheriff’s department came out there, and they knocked on the door, and nobody came to the door, so they just proceeded to remove the cars,” Tenesha Thomas, operations manager of the Conyers-based company told the AJC Friday.
The employees didn’t see Reed the second time they were at the property, either. At least, not until they looked up and saw him on the roof holding a gun, Thomas said.
Reed started firing.
He shot and killed 44-year-old Travis Fenty.
Reed, 74, was charged with murder and remains at the Fulton County Jail. He waived his first appearance hearing in front of a magistrate Friday morning and will return to court in two weeks for a preliminary hearing, spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said. Bond will be set or denied at that time as well.
Fenty had worked at Quick Drop for about three years, Thomas said. He would come in early – two hours before necessary – so he could finish his shift in time to pick up his 9-year-old daughter from school, Thomas said.
“He always tried to work early so he could go home to see her,” she said.
JaTavia, Fenty's daughter, had been living with him and his wife, Elizabeth Fenty, for a couple of years.
“He was just doing his job, making money so that he could provide for his daughter and myself, that’s all he wanted, that’s all he did was make sure that his family was taken care of. Everything else was secondary,” Elizabeth Fenty told the AJC.
He also has a son who lives in Texas. He was a stepfather to Elizabeth Fenty’s three sons, one of which lives at their home.
Elizabeth Fenty met her husband nine years ago, but they didn’t get married until March 25, 2010, she said. The two planned to celebrate their first wedding anniversary by going to Helen.
“We love the mountains; they are always beautiful this time of year,” she said.
Elizabeth Fenty said she had just spoken with her husband – a man everyone called “cable” because of a previous job in the cable industry -- around 1 p.m. Thursday and then went to lunch. Her son called around 2:15 and said she needed to come home.
“I’m just really trying to wake up,” she told the AJC. “I’m thinking I’m in a dream and that this isn’t really happening.”
Thursday’s job was another routine assignment, Thomas said.
“They’ve been trained to avoid confrontation, but they didn’t even have a conversation with the gentleman,” Thomas said, referring to Reed.
“They looked up, and he was on the roof. Both of them covered themselves,” she said.
Fenty was running to get behind one of the vehicles, Thomas said. “The guy said something, and Travis stopped and looked up, and the guy just shot him,” she said.
“We’ve never had anything like this of course, but it’s just a reminder of how dangerous it is,” she said.
The property is on the 1000 block of Donald Lee Hollowell. Reed has been told for more than two years that the property was foreclosed on and bought by Intown Ventures, a company that purchases tax foreclosed land, a friend of Reed’s told the AJC.
Reed insisted that he owned the property, Lovella Reynolds told the AJC.
Dan West, owner of Intown Ventures, would send wrecker service employees to remove cars from Reed’s lot, he would stop them, Reynolds said.
Reed was using multiple lots adjacent to his property that were owned by other people.
Another company sent Quick Drop to Donald Lee Hollowell Thursday.
Reporter M.B. Pell contributed to this story
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