By Mike Morris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County Police have arrested a second man in the shooting deaths of two off-duty officers and continue to search for “at least one more suspect,” Chief Terrell Bolton said.
In a news conference Thursday morning, Bolton said Deanthius Jamal Johnson, 28, of Decatur, turned himself in at the DeKalb County Jail early Thursday. He said Johnson, who is charged with two counts of murder, was taken to the jail by a family member.
The chief said Johnson, whose street name is “Little Man,” is a convicted felon, but released no details on his arrest record. “We want the public to know ‘Little Man,’ because that’s what he does his dirty deeds by,” Bolton said.
Johnson’s arrest follows that of Herbie DeShawn Durham, 32, who was charged with two counts of murder Wednesday evening after being questioned at police headquarters, Bolton said.
“We will leave no stone unturned until we find and deal with everyone that’s associated with this horrible crime,” Bolton said. “We will work to make sure that justice is swift and certain for those who participated.”
Bolton said those involved in the crime “can’t hide on this one. You might as well give up.”
He wouldn’t comment on what led investigators to Johnson, saying, “one mis-step by me on information that’s not accurate could determine whether these people get the death penalty or not.”
The chief has refused to elaborate on any motive for the killings or how Durham was identified and captured. Bolton released few details about Durham, except to say he had a criminal record. The chief instead focused on the department’s anguish.
“This is the beginning of the healing process,” he said after the initial arrest.
A witness said the two off-duty DeKalb County police officers, who were moonlighting as security guards, were apparently frisking a man in an apartment complex parking lot moments before both officers were shot and killed early Wednesday morning
Derrick Murchison, 38, said he looked out his window and saw that both officers Ricky Bryant Jr. and Eric Barker had pulled up in their personal vehicles they used in their off-duty job as security guards at the complex.
“They had asked the dude for his license ... I looked out and he was on the hood like this,” Murchison said, demonstrating that the man was standing with his hands extended on top of the car.
Murchison said he went back to playing a video game but then his girlfriend, Michelle Payne, jumped up and said she heard shots. He pushed her down away from the window. “Then it stopped,” he said.
In the parking lot outside, Bryant and Barker lay mortally wounded. Their killer or killers fled, leaving only the echo of gunshots outside Murchison and Payne’s bedroom window.
Gunshots are frequent near their Glenwood Gardens apartments in southwest DeKalb. But not two dead police officers.
“I was just so hysterical I had to let my daughter-in-law talk to [911 operators], because I just saw two bodies lying out there in the parking lot,” Payne said Wednesday.
The officers’ deaths fueled a ferocious manhunt that stretched from southwest DeKalb to downtown Atlanta and beyond. More than 100 law enforcement personnel combed yards, blocked off streets and stopped traffic to search car trunks and people. Atlanta police officers closed down a mall near the Five Points MARTA station after getting a tip about possible suspects.
DeKalb officials and community leaders decried what one called “an outright cowardly act.” Authorities offered a $60,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the killings. New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Bishop Eddie Long put up $10,000 of the reward, with other contributors including the U.S. Marshal’s office and talk show host Michael Baisden.
Both Bryant, 26, and Barker, 33, had families. Earlier in the day, their deaths left the DeKalb police chief literally shaking his fist in anger.
Anyone who could see the officers “lie there on the asphalt in the middle of the night...and you remain silent, you’re not my brother, you’re not my sister if you go down that road,” Bolton said during a news conference earlier in the day at the site of the killings.
He had a blunt message for the killers: “We’re going to watch, we’re going to fight, we’re going to pray, but most of all we’re going to hunt them down.”
Barker had been with the force for four years, Bryant for two. Authorities said they were killed while responding to a suspicious person report.
Bryant, father of four, juggled multiple jobs, according to Tiffany Wiggins, assistant manager of the Village at Stone Mountain apartments. Bryant offered courtesy security assistance in exchange for a discount on rent, she said.
Bryant moved into the complex about two months ago and was often called to help with domestic disputes and arguments, according to Forrest Minor, a security officer who worked with Bryant at the complex.
Wiggins said Bryant was separated from his wife and that his young children stayed with him off and on for weeks at a time. They often played at the apartment playground.
Wiggins said Bryant was shy and funny, and liked to go the movies. She said Bryant’s oldest daugther often called him on his cell phone to check on him.
Ranardo Seamon, a leasing agent at the complex, said one of Bryant’s rooms was filled with toys and remote control cars for the children.
Minor, the security officer, said he saw Bryant Tuesday evening as he left to go to the apartment complex where he was killed. He said Bryant had just finished an overtime shift with county police.
“He was telling me he was going to see us later to help us out,” said Minor.
Though Bryant had lived at the Village at Stone Mountain just a short while, employees there had grown close to him. Some went home early Wednesday, distraught over his death.
Bolton, the county police chief, said both officers were in uniform at the time of the shooting.
Teofil Taut, who owns the apartment complex, said he hired the officers about two months ago after encountering problems with homeless people breaking into vacant units. About half of the 176 units are occupied, Taut said.
“What a horrible, horrible way to end your life,” Bolton said. “Apparently, they had no chance,” he said, adding that the officers were “like my sons.”
Police questioned several residents of the Glenwood Gardens apartments, including Derrick Murchison and tenants from an adjoining apartment.
Bolton said Thursday that the funeral arrangements for the slain officers are not complete. He said officials are working with a bank to set up an account to accept donations for the families of the officers.
Wednesday’s shootings marked the first time two metro Atlanta officers were killed in the same incident since July 23, 1999, when two Cobb SWAT officers were killed by shotgun in a raid on an Austell-area house.
Staff writers David Simpson, Kristina Torres, Ty Tagami, Tim Eberly, Helena Oliviero, Paul Donsky, Ralph Ellis and Steve Visser contributed to this article.
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution