The 30 Deep gang member implicated in the fatal shooting of a popular Grant Park bartender is back in jail after allegedly threatening his probation officer, among other new charges filed earlier this week.
“All police officers should be dead,” Johnquavious Hood told Officer Marissa Viverito, according to her testimony in a petition to modify or revoke the 20-year-old’s probation. Hood was released from prison two months ago on charges unrelated to the January 2009 shooting of John Henderson at Standard Food and Spirits.
He could be going back to prison if Viverito’s accusations stick. Hood was arrested Monday and charged with armed robbery, burglary, criminal damage to property and participating in criminal street gang activity.
The new allegations indicate that 30 Deep, a gang thought to be decimated after a series of high-profile convictions in recent years, remains active.
“In a city like Atlanta, the presence of coordinated gangs is very hard to judge,” said Georgia State University criminologist Volkan Topalli, an expert on street crime. He likened gangs such as 30 Deep to al-Qaida in that they’re not dependent on a centralized leadership structure.
According to his probation officer, Hood had been frequenting a storefront on Glenn Street in Mechanicsville known as the gang’s hangout.
After being told to stay away from the store, Hood allegedly responded, “If the undercovers try to jump out on me … I have enough guns there to take them all out.”
And when asked how he supports himself, Hood allegedly told Viverito, “Don’t worry about it,” according to her testimony.
Hood also failed two drug tests and tried to steal her iPhone, Viverito testified.
Though he was never charged in the Standard Food and Spirits shooting, prosecutors say they believe Hood fired the head shot that killed Henderson. The bartender’s death galvanized in-town residents already on edge following a wave of similarly brazen crimes.
Hood allegedly told police in a videotaped interrogation that Jonathan Redding killed Henderson. Redding, who was 17 at the time, was eventually charged under a law that allows a jury to convict a defendant for murder if he participated in an armed robbery that resulted in a death. He was convicted and sentenced to life plus 20 years in March 2011 for his role in the shooting.
Prosecutors say they lacked the physical evidence to charge Hood who, according to one witness, had bragged about killing Henderson.
Last month, Hood turned up at Grady Memorial Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Atlanta police said he offered investigators no details on who shot him, or why, leading many to speculate that Hood had been targeted by 30 Deep members for snitching on Redding.
But that theory doesn’t jibe with the new allegations against him.
“He may be good with some members, but there may be others who want revenge,” said Topalli, adding that the “no snitching” code among gang members isn’t as black and white as it is often portrayed.
And, he noted, Hood changed his story on the stand, denying that he fingered Redding as the triggerman.
“There’s going to be a reward for that,” he said.
Though his alleged reunion with 30 Deep may land Hood back in prison, Topalli said he’s not surprised Hood returned to the streets.
“It’s more dangerous for him to be an outcast, a man without a gang,” Topalli said. “This way he has at least some protection.”
In his testimony during the Redding trial in March 2011, Hood suggested 30 Deep was like family to him.
“You label us a gang because of what we’re doing,” he said. “We got to get money. We can’t get a job or anything. What’s the grudge against us?”
Hood’s probation hearing is scheduled for March 4. He’s being held at the Fulton County Jail.
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