Chamblee police announced Monday that they have arrested two men in connection with the shooting death of a third and said the three apparently were running a $40,000 scam.
One of the victim's alleged accomplices in the con was charged with murder, but Chamblee Police Chief R. Marc Johnson told Channel 2 Action News that the shooter was still at large Monday.
Phylos Pokem, 24, of Ellenwood has been arrested and charged with felony murder, providing false statements to police officers and forgery in connection with the death of his cohort, 35-year-old Yannick Medjo of Stone Mountain, police said.
"Anyone involved in a crime which actually results in the death of another can be charged with felony murder," Johnson explained in an email to the AJC.
Medjo's other accomplice, 25-year-old Armand Patrick Ngamou of DeKalb County, was arrested for probation violation and on outstanding warrants, police said.
Ngamou was wanted on Cobb County warrants for forgery and identity fraud stemming from a March 2010 check-writing incident, and for giving a false name to police during a stop in March 2011, according to Cobb Magistrate Court records. He also was wanted in Florida on unspecified charges, police said.
Pokem and Ngamou were being held without bond Monday evening in DeKalb County jail. They and Medjo were believed to be from Cameroon, in West Africa, police said.
The investigation began about 7 a.m. Saturday when Chamblee 911 received a call of a person shot outside the Mad Italian Restaurant at 2197 Savoy Drive, police said. Officers found Medjo with a gunshot wound to his right torso, lying in the parking lot. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses told investigators they heard a gunshot and saw a blue or green sport-utility vehicle, believed to be a Ford Explorer or Expedition, leaving the area.
Police determined that Medjo and Pokem had left the victim's vehicle parked outside the restaurant Friday night, traveled to Tennessee overnight in Pokem's white Mustang, and returned Saturday.
The men had just gotten out of Pokem's vehicle when an SUV pulled up.
"A confrontation of some sort then occurred with persons still unknown in the SUV," police said in a news release. "The passenger in the SUV was reportedly armed with a long gun. Pokem jumped back into his vehicle and fled the scene leaving Medjo behind."
As it fled, Pokem's Mustang collided with an extended-cab black pickup truck "involved with the crime," police said. Investigators are looking for that truck also, which they said would have body damage from the collision.
Pokem subsequently rented a hotel room off Northlake Parkway and later turned himself in to police.
"Based upon information obtained from Pokem's vehicle, hotel room and statements, it is believed that both individuals were involved in Black Money scams and that one or both of them had ripped someone off for $40,000," police said.
A "black money" scam is a con involving a pile of black paper that is passed off as money dyed black. In an email to Channel 2, Johnson explained that "special paper is cut the size of currency and folks are convinced there is a process to convert it to real currency."
Money typically is sought from the target of the scam for a secret chemical to "wash" the dye off.
"They had purchased some of the chemicals used in the scams in Tennessee Friday night," Johnson said.
The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Chamblee Police at 770-986-5005.
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