A 23-year-old Decatur man is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday on charges he fatally beat and stabbed his grandmother and attacked two other relatives who tried to rescue her.
Marquis La’Vonta Freeman goes before a DeKalb County magistrate at 10 a.m. for a first hearing on charges he killed Shirley Kendrick, of the Oakhurst community of Decatur, and wounded her husband and son.
He was held by relatives and neighbors until police could arrive Tuesday night. He kept saying over and over “Kill me now. Show me the light. Please snap my neck now,” neighbor John Post told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Freeman is charged with murder, aggravated assault and battery, Decatur police said.
Emergency workers with Decatur Fire went to Kendrick’s home on Cambridge Avenue just before midnight on what they thought was a call for medical assistance.
But at the scene, they found Kendrick, 75, with stab wounds and a head injury.
Kendrick, honored in 2002 as a Decatur Hometown Hero for her volunteer work, died a short time later at an area hospital.
Her son suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries trying to intervene in the attack. Kendrick’s husband also had minor injuries.
Kendrick was active in the Cambridge Neighborhood Association in Decatur and known for volunteering to run concession stands at Decatur Recreation Center, and Oakhurst Park during youth and adult athletic events.
She also organized residents on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to take individuals with absentee sons and daughters out to dinner.
