East Point police had few details Sunday but were treating a local security guard’s unusual death as a homicide.
Capt. Cliff Chandler said authorities responded to a business on the 1600 block of Willingham Drive at about 6 a.m. Sunday, finding a deceased man in a white SUV “kind of wedged in a bushy area” next to the building. The man, later identified as 32-year-old Atlanta resident Antonio Spear, had suffered a gunshot wound.
Chandler declined to release specific information about the location of the wound but called its placement “suspicious.”
“We’re treating it as a homicide until the medical examiner tells us different,” Chandler said.
Authorities said broken glass was found in the parking lot at Tri-Cities Plaza, a shopping center about 200 yards from where the security guard’s vehicle was found. Spear was believed to have been working as a security guard at the shopping center, which was likely the original crime scene, police said.
Police believe Spear may have involuntarily pressed the gas pedal in his vehicle after being shot.
Chandler said authorities had no information regarding possible suspects or a potential motive.
“Right now it’s a bit of a whodunit,” he said.
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