Police are offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrests of the gunmen who killed the 18-year-old nephew of an Atlanta city councilwoman almost a month ago.
To help jog memories, Atlanta police also released a surveillance video Tuesday that included images of an SUV that was in the area where Darius Bottoms was shot to death on June 13 in the 300 block of Legacy Drive in southwest Atlanta.
Homicide detective David Quinn said the older model SUV was captured by area surveillance cameras driving “up and down” the streets in the area at a time when there were no other vehicles on the street, beginning about two hours before the shooting.
“The car appears to be casing the neighborhood,” Quinn said.
Quinn said the SUV “goes directly into our crime scene” just before the shooting and it is next seen speeding off in the direction of Interstate 20.
Police suspect the people in the car were either witnesses or involved in the shooting.
Bottoms, a sophomore at Atlanta Metropolitan College, and a friend had just gotten into their parked car and were driving away when they saw a person in the crosswalk at the intersection of Sells Avenue and Legacy Drive who made them uneasy, police said.
Bottoms, who was driving, put the car in reverse to go in another direction and that was when multiple shots were fired, according to police.
The friend, who has not been identified, escaped.
Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms has made several public pleas for information in the death of her nephew by marriage.
Initially, the reward was set at $2,000. It increased to $5,000 on Tuesday.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS (8477).
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