ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned that a suspect who got away following a shootout in a busy Buckhead shopping center had been charged with a violent crime in the past.
The latest shooting happened Sept. 10 in the Peachtree Battle shopping center along Peachtree Road in Buckhead, raising new safety concerns for that area.
Coby Senior got away from the incident. Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne learned that the shootout was not Senior’s first encounter with the law.
“We work very hard to get and identify a lot of these violent offenders and then when you find out after you’ve arrested them that they’re involved in other crimes in other jurisdictions its extremely disheartening,” said City of South Fulton Police Chief Keith Meadows.
Atlanta police say Senior is now charged with felony murder, entering auto, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of firearm by a person under 18 after a Sept. 10 shootout in a Buckhead supermarket parking lot that began after a man saw Senior and another teen breaking into his Jeep.
APD said while Senior is not accused of firing the fatal shot, he’s charged with felony murder because the other teen died while senior was committing a felony.
But Meadows said Senior’s name had more than a ring of familiarity to his investigators.
Video showing Senior and others approaching a teen who was about to be beaten and robbed in February 2020 was evidence of violent crimes with which Senior and a co-defendant were charged as adults last year.
“We had several violent offenses against him last year,” Meadows said.
An indictment charged armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and more against Senior but records suggest the armed robbery was pled down to a first offender plea to just robbery.
The other charges were disposed of in a type of dismissal called nol pros and the case was remanded to juvenile court for sentencing.
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At juvenile court Tuesday, Winne was allowed to view records which indicated Senior got 12 months probation with a long list of conditions and $425 restitution.
“Until I told you the case had been pled down and sent to juvenile court for sentencing, you have any idea?” Winne asked Meadows.
“We had no knowledge of that,” Meadows said.
Winne also obtained records indicating in Clayton County Juvenile Court, Senior was alleged to have committed theft by receiving motor vehicle and obstruction of an officer.
An investigator said that incident was in December while the Fulton County armed robbery case was pending.
A court official told Winne on Tuesday that the Clayton County charges were still pending.
“For the individual that was killed in Buckhead, we in the city of South Fulton had an open investigation,” Meadows said.
In the order Winne viewed about the probation, the judge cited the parties’ agreement and the defendant’s juvenile history.
In a motion in the robbery case, a defense lawyer seems to suggest the victim indicated a third man had the gun, hit him with it and demanded items from him.
“The victim has never alleged that Mr. Senior ever physically assaulted him, or ever demanded anything from him,” Senior’s attorney said.
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