Doug Nurse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County police are all but certain that a man shot by an officer Monday is the man who killed a little boy by hitting him in the face with a hatchet.
“We’re 99 percent sure it’s him,” Cpl. Gary Syblis, spokesman for the Fulton County Police Department, said Wednesday. “We’re just trying to firm up the connection.”
Meanwhile, police may have found a red car linked to the killing. On Wednesday, they were searching for a red 2000 Pontiac Grand Am that was stolen Monday from a Roswell apartment complex. A car matching that description was located about 5 p.m. Wednesday by police. Two juveniles who were in the car were being questioned, Syblis said.
Witnesses said a man in a red car killed 9-year-old Jordin Paulder. Syblis said two youngsters who saw the killing identified Santos Benigno Cabrera Borjas, 21, of Sandy Springs as the killer, based on a photo lineup.
But the witnesses --- Jordin’s 7-year-old brother and a 5-year-old friend --- are young enough that police want to verify their story before closing the case, he said. Police are talking to other people at the apartment complex.
Police also wanted to locate up to four others in a red car that Cabrera Borjas was riding in before the attack, which happened about 8:30 p.m.
“They may be witnesses,” Syblis said.
When the red car passed by Jordin and the other youngsters on Monday, Jordin called out to the occupants that they had a bad wheel, police said.
The car stopped and a man in baggy clothes got out, approached the kids and then suddenly hit Jordin in the face with a hatchet, according to the police report. The car apparently took off, leaving the killer behind, Syblis said.
The Fulton County medical examiner’s office said Jordin had been struck twice in almost the same place in the nose and forehead.
The stolen car that police were seeking Wednesday had a doughnut emergency tire on one of the rear wheels.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the family of Cabrera Borjas questioned whether the man shot and killed by Fulton County police was the same man who killed Jordin.
Attorney Richard W. Summers said interviews with residents at the Chastain and Chateau Villa apartments are “leading me to the conclusion that [police] may have shot the wrong guy and were overzealous and hasty in their actions.”
He said he’s talked to almost two dozen witnesses at both apartment complexes and is piecing together a timeline of Cabrera Borjas’ whereabouts Monday night.
When police at the scene approached Cabrera Borjas, he fled to another apartment complex across the street. There, police say Cabrera Borjas threw a rimmed tire at Officer Alexis Powell, breaking the officer’s arm. When Cabrera Borjas charged Powell, the officer shot him three times, fatally wounding him.
Relatives and friends said Cabrera Borjas was mentally unstable but was not violent.
Staff writers Yolanda Rodriguez, Cynthia Daniels and Kathy Jefcoats also contributed to this article.
June 8, 2006