Man gets life in Cumberland Mall slaying

A Cobb County judge Tuesday handed down a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for a man convicted of shooting and killing another man in a shopping mall parking lot, Channel 2 Action News reported.

A jury on Monday found Rosano Wensley Bundel of Douglasville guilty of killing George Tabetando on Nov. 25. The 28-year-old Bundel had been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.

Channel 2 reported that those testifying at Bundel’s sentencing hearing Tuesday included Tabetando’s father. He said that his son, a 29-year-old Powder Springs man, was the father of four, including a baby born five months after the murder.

A DEA agent also testified, saying the agency was investigating Bundel in connection with a plot to smuggle as much as 500 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.

At the time of the shooting, near a mall full of shoppers the day after Thanksgiving, Bundel met Tabetando outside the Macy’s department store at Cumberland Mall, authorities said.

But the two men began arguing over money, and witnesses said they saw Bundel chasing Tabetando, firing shots as he ran. Tabetando tripped trying to go over a fence, and Bundel walked up to him and fired at least one more shot into him, police said.

Tabetando was taken to Emory-Adventist Hospital in Smryna, where he died from his injuries.