Gang activity suspected in series of group assaults in Conyers

The victim was walking through the woods from Brandon Glen Apartments to Bridlewood when eight teenage males approached him saying they liked his shoes and that they wanted them.

“When he told them no and kept on walking, he said they attacked him,” Deputy David Donehoo Jr. reported. “He said they punched him repeatedly in the face.”

The victim said he tried to fight them off and the suspects eventually ran off without his shoes and got into a red SUV, according to the incident report.

The males were described as being between the ages of 15 and 18, none of whom were wearing shirts. A few had red bandanas and a few had on red shoes.

A couple of days later, on July 13, the Conyers Police Department responded to a similar assault incident that had occurred around 10 p.m. in the area of Eastview Road.

In this case, the 18-year-old victim said he was walking home from a friend’s house when eight unknown black males jumped him in the front yard, hit him on the head from behind and stole his book bag that contained a cell phone and some clothes. According to the CPD’s incident report, the victim said he had also been kicked in the stomach and had neck pain.

The victim made his way inside his home after the attack, where his mother found him lying on the floor by the front door.

The victim was transported to Grady Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The following day, just before 9 p.m., another teen reported to police he had been assaulted. According to this report, the 17-year-old victim went to the Family Dollar on Sigman Road right after the attack to borrow a phone to call his girlfriend to pick him up.

The victim told police he was at his girlfriend’s house when about seven or eight people jumped him as he was leaving through the front door.

“(He) stated he was hit from behind and fell over and then the whole group joined in on attacking him,” the incident report states.

The group stole the victim’s cell phone, headphones, backpack and about $150 in cash. After he was jumped, he ran to Family Dollar.

The victim said he had no idea who the group was or why they attacked him, believing he gets along well with everyone he knows.

“While speaking with (him) he kept pacing back and forth acting very nervous. He said he just wanted to go home and did not want to prosecute the subjects if we caught them,” the report states.

CPD Officer Kim Lucas said the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office are working together on these cases and they suspect they involve gang activity.

“There are too many commonalities to ignore,” Lucas said, adding that the attacks occurred in the same geographic area and are not believed to be random.

Currently it is not suspected that the victims are involved in any gang activity, according to both the CPD and the RCSO.

Lucas said the CPD has been stepping up patrols in the area due to the number of entering automobile reports and the assaults. On July 15, a CPD officer attempted to pull over a vehicle driving in the area of North Hicks Circle around 3 a.m.. The driver did not immediately stop, running through a four-way stop, Lucas said

When the car eventually stopped at West Avenue, the four occupants ran from the scene. Lucas said the officer immediately stopped one person and soon located a second suspect.

The two 17-year-olds, Xavier Dunbar of Azalea Drive in Stockbridge, and Courtney Anderson of Derbyshire Trace in Conyers, were arrested. The officer also found inside the car two rifles, a shotgun and a handgun that were reported stolen on July 9 in Rockdale County.