An alert north Fayette resident helped sheriff’s deputies collar three suspects while they were in the middle of burglarizing a home Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

The resident called 911 to report the burglary after noticing a man who rang several doorbells in the area but left each home after someone answered the door, said Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies arrived at the home on Buckhorn Trail, one of the suspects gave up immediately but the other two fled on foot, Pope said. Hawk 1, the sheriff’s helicopter, responded to aid in the search but it was the department’s bloodhounds that led to both suspects being captured, Pope said.

The subsequent investigation led deputies to a fourth suspect who was actually selling the stolen goods, and he was arrested Wednesday night at an apartment complex in Union City, Pope said.

So far deputies have charged four persons in connection with Wednesday’s burglary: Demario Knox, 19, of Riverdale; Johnny Sheffey, 17, of Union City; Demetrius Collins, 18, of Union City; and Mandela Williams, 19, of Union City.

Two of the suspects also admitted to their involvement in a previous burglary in the area later this month, and when Williams was arrested at his apartment some of the items from that burglary were recovered, Pope said. About $3,200 in items including televisions, computers and video cameras were taken in that burglary, Pope noted.

Some of the suspects from Wednesday’s burglary also admitted to participating in another burglary in Fulton County, Pope noted.

And while Hawk 1 was hovering overhead to flesh out the two suspects who bolted from the burglary, it got a “hit” on a Lojack signal that led to stolen equipment in Clayton County, Pope said. Clayton officials recovered a trackhoe, a box truck and a trailer that had been reported stolen, Pope said.

login to post comments