APD charge four suspects in L5P double-murder
APD says victim's wallet helped link killings with nearby robberies
Atlanta Police say a robbery victim’s wallet led detectives to the final two suspects that they think were involved in a recent double homicide in Little Five Points.
APD officers have charged an unnamed 14-year-old, Thomas Dozier, 25, and Charlie Baldwin and Jacques Allen, both 17, in the killings. All four have been charged with malice murder. Baldwin faces additional armed robbery and assault charges, among others.
On March 14 around 2:45 a.m., APD officers responded to a call at the Vortex Bar & Grill on Moreland Avenue. Two males, Joseph Hruska, 33, and Chaitanyalila "Chay" Kelsey, 32, had been shot and killed while walking in the parking lot.
APD Captain Mike O'Connor says the killings followed two armed robberies that took place earlier in the evening — one at the corner of North Highland and Los Angeles avenues and another in Poncey-Highland.
Baldwin and the minor had already been placed in custody on charges related to those robberies, O'Connor told reporters today. But it took the discovery of one of the victim's wallets by a good Samaritan for them to also be considered suspects in Hruska and Kelsey's deaths. Police did not say where the wallet was found or to which victim it belonged.
O’Connor says, using this evidence, APD Homicide Detectives Vince Velasquez and Calvin Thomas constructed a timeline to connect the murder of Hruska and Kelsey with the robberies.
Police are not searching for other suspects.