‘Life flashed before my eyes:’ Father carjacked picking up wife from work at metro restaurant

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — For a moment, David Thompson thought he’d never see his 7 and 8-year-old daughters again when a masked robber held a gun to his head and demanded his car.

“My life flashed before my eyes,” said Thompson, who handles roadside assistance calls for a living. “All I seen was my kids because I thought they was going to be without a dad.”

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He says he was picking up his wife from work at the Golden Corral on Highway 138 in Stockbridge on Wednesday at around 10 p.m.

“Next minute I look up and there’s a man wearing a hoodie and a mask and has a gun to my head,” he said.

Clayton County police are investigating. Thompson says the restaurant has surveillance video that may help investigators identify the attacker, even though he was masked.

The white Toyota Avalon that the robber stole was Thompson’s only car. It’s the one he needs to work roadside assistance and to take his wife to and from work.

He has started a GoFundMe in hopes of raising money to help his family back on their feet.

“That one little thing set us back, it set us back so far, I don’t know what to do anymore,” said Thompson.

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Thompson’s robbery was within Clayton County and just outside of Stockbridge city limits.

A ceremony just two miles away on Thursday celebrated the Stockbridge Police Department assuming command from Henry County Police within city limits.

“We want to deliver to the promises we’ve made to the community,” said new police chief Frank Trammer shortly before his department officially began operating.

Trammer will lead the department as 62 new officers start working within Stockbridge city limits at midnight on Friday.

He says that cooperation with Clayton and Henry County departments is a priority.

“Crime does not have boundaries so we need to be working together to address those issues,” said Trammer.

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Councilman Elton Alexander was part of the vote to create the department and says it’s in response to rising crime across the metro.

“We’ve ticked up in violence in the past couple of years and we want to make sure that that number does not elevate,” he said.

Thompson says he hopes the departments can all work together before his attacker goes after someone else.

“You don’t know if it’s going to be your last moment,” he said.

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