A child custody exchange outside a Clayton County gas station turned deadly Monday night when authorities said a man tried to step between his girlfriend and the irate father of her children.
Kevin Spruill, 30, was found with several gunshot wounds when police responded about 6:45 p.m. to the Chevron station at the intersection of Forest Parkway and Tara Boulevard. According to the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office, he accompanied his girlfriend to the gas station to meet her children’s father.
The father, identified as Tony Stevenson, 34, was not happy to see him, the sheriff’s office said in a public advisory.
“Stevenson took the mother of his children’s car keys and went back to his car in an attempt to drive off,” the agency said. “The mother went to retrieve her keys when Stevenson began to strike her with a closed fist multiple times and bit her on her arm.”
Spruill was shot when he tried to intervene, and Stevenson pulled his ex-girlfriend into his car and drove away, according to authorities.
Investigators have accused a passenger in Stevenson’s car, 28-year-old Reginald Hardy, of pulling the trigger.
Stevenson and Hardy abandoned the car at a nearby hotel, leaving the woman and four children unharmed, authorities said. The children’s ages vary from 4 to 9 years old. Police said the woman returned later to the shooting location, where Spruill was dead.
Hardy is wanted on charges of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. Because children were present at the time of the shooting, he also faces a charge of first-degree child cruelty.
He is 5-foot-9, weighs about 170 pounds and has shoulder-length dreadlocks, a mustache and beard, according to authorities.
Stevenson is wanted on child cruelty and battery charges related to family violence. Authorities said he is 5-foot-11, weighs about 160 pounds and has a fade-style haircut with a mustache and beard.
Both men should be considered armed and dangerous, the sheriff’s office said. Anyone who spots them is asked to call 911 immediately. Anyone with information can call the sheriff’s fugitive squad at 770-477-4479.
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