A suspect charged with shooting to death a College Park store owner he thought had short-changed his girlfriend avoided trial at the last minute by pleading guilty Wednesday to the October 2010 slaying, Fulton County prosecutors said.
Moments before jury selection was to begin in his trial, Eric Carr, 43, pleaded guilty as charged to murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford sentenced Carr to two consecutive life sentences plus 15 years for the death of Michael Moore, 52. Moore was shot and killed Oct. 15, 2010, in his Roosevelt Highway convenience store.
Carr had pulled a gun on a store clerk and had taken money from a cash register when Moore entered the store from a back room, prosecutors said. Carr pointed a gun at Moore, exclaimed, 'You! Yeah, you!" and then opened fire, fatally wounding the store keeper in the chest.
The gunman fled the store, and the incident was captured on surveillance video. Carr was arrested four days later at a relative's home.
Investigators determined that Carr had gone to the store to confront Moore for allegedly short-changing the defendant's girlfriend on a prior purchase, prosecutors said.
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