One of two men who carried purses during an armed robbery at a Cobb County pawn shop is now in custody, according to police. But he’s not going to be in Georgia for long.
That’s because the 26-year-old is accused of shooting a man to death last month in Baltimore, according to that city’s police department. Before facing charges here, Robert Eaton Cornish, most recently of Marietta, is expected to be extradited to Maryland, where he previously served nearly six years in state prison.
On Sept. 18, Cornish and another man who was dressed as a woman, robbed the Cobb Pawn Shop on Cobb Parkway, Marietta police previously said.
Marietta detectives were able to use fingerprints and video surveillance footage to link Cornish to the crime, Officer Dave Baldwin said. The other suspect remained on the loose Tuesday, he said.
“The suspect produced a black revolver and pointed it at the victim and forced the victim into the back room and then the victim was duct taped to a chair and the victim’s business was then robbed,” the arrest warrant, secured last week, states.
But by then, Cornish was in the Fulton County jail on unrelated charges, according to booking records. A traffic stop revealed that Cornish was wanted on family violence and child cruelty charges, and on Nov. 29 he was booked into the Fulton County jail.
At the same time, police officers several states away were also investigating Cornish, according to Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for Baltimore police. Based on witness accounts, an “elaborate camera network,” and other evidence, Baltimore police named Cornish a suspect in a Nov. 8 shooting death, Guglielmi said.
On Nov. 8, police responded to a 911 call on Goodnow Road in northeast Baltimore, where they found the body of an adult man in bushes, Guglielmi said. A medical examiner determined the victim, 26-year-old Warren Boone, had been shot twice.
Once he’s extradited back to Baltimore, Cornish is expected to be charged with first-degree murder, Guglielmi said.
Cornish has been in Maryland state prisons twice previously, according to a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Corrections. He was behind bars from September 2004 until May 2008 and again from January until October 2009 following convictions on weapon, aggravated assault and robbery charges, the DOC said.
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