Shooter in 2009 Moreland Avenue package store robbery-turned-killing gets life in prison

• Joeff Davis/CL File
• More than 200 Atlantans gathered at the Moreland Avenue liquor store in Dec. 2009 to remember Martez McKibben, who was shot and killed during a robbery

On Dec. 4, 2009, 21-year-old Martez McKibben, a popular clerk at the Moreland Package Store in Reynoldstown, was shot and killed during a robbery. Similar to the January 2009 murder of bartender John Henderson, McKibben's killing sparked a community outcry for a clampdown on crime. More than 200 Atlantans, including then Mayor-elect Kasim Reed, gathered at the liquor store to stage a candlelight vigil.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance Russell yesterday sentenced Terrone Anthony, the 19-year-old man police say shot and killed McKibben, to life in prison. Via the Fulton County District Attorney's office:

McKibben, a clerk at Moreland Package Store in Atlanta, was gunned down on December 4, 2009. The defendant and a second suspect entered the store, held the clerk at gunpoint and demanded money. When Defendant Anthony turned to chase another employee who ran to the back of the store, the clerk pulled a gun and shot at Anthony. Anthony returned fire hitting McKibben, the store clerk, three times-twice in the back. The store owner, who was in a back office, came to his employees’ defense and began shooting at the suspects hitting defendant Anthony twice. Anthony fled the scene leaving a trail of blood behind. He was arrested two blocks away from the scene wearing the same clothes and mask witnesses describe him in at the scene. Aaron Jackson, tried as a co-defendant in the case was acquitted.

In January 2010, the Atlanta Fire Department disciplined three EMTs who responded to the crime scene after an internal investigation revealed they failed to follow procedure. Surveillance footage from the liquor store that night showed first responders didn't check McKibben's vital signs.