According to police, a worker at an Atlanta grocery store heard "clicking noises" that sounded like someone was loading weapons inside a restroom stall. Then he found a rifle that looked like an AR-15 leaned against the wall.
A heavily armed man at a grocery store in Atlanta was arrested
The sharp-eyed Instacart employee is credited with aiding cops in stopping an armed man wearing body armor and carrying a half-dozen firearms from roaming around the Publix convenience store on Wednesday. The latest information can be found in Atlanta police incident reports published on Thursday. The sources don't go into detail about the man's motives, AP News reports.
According to a police report, the worker, Charles Russell, "heard clicking sounds from the bathroom stall, sounded like someone was shooting firearms. Russell immediately alerted a store manager, advising him to dial 911.
Two officers from the Atlanta Police Department came. One took a rifle from his police car, donned a ballistic mask, and stormed the shop, seemingly startling the armed man when he emerged from the bathroom around the corner.
The officer wrote in his report, "I immediately told the accused to put his hands up and not move, to which he complied." "When the accused saw us so close to him, he was surprised."
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Rico Marley, 22, was then arrested without firing a weapon. The officer wrote that the pistols he had were fully loaded with bullets in chambers, and a revolver was also fully loaded. The officer then searched into Marley's bag and discovered a loaded AR-15-style rifle and a loaded shotgun, although the suspect was carrying body armor.
On Thursday, Marley waived his original court appearance. Five charges of unlawful attempt to commit a crime and six counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony have been filed against him, police said. Marley was also undergoing a psychological assessment, as per the prosecutors. It's unclear if he has legal representation.
Russell told WSB-TV that seeing the man in the store's bathroom reminded him of the mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, which left ten people dead. Russell told the TV station, "It should have prevented anything." Marley was apprehended just days after eight people were fatally shot at three massage parlors in Atlanta.
This is a picture I obtained of the 6 guns, and ammo, found on the 22 year old suspect at the Atlantic Station Publix today. Police have said he was found with 5 but there appears to be one more handgun. Intentions of the suspect are still unknown. https://t.co/gMZBvbwWT8 pic.twitter.com/kQG9VgSfOx
— Matt Johnson (@MattWSB) March 25, 2021
Police have been trying to find out what Marley wanted to do with the guns. Before police arrived, there were no rumors of Marley aiming or using a weapon.
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The arrested armed man added to anxiety in Atlanta
The shooting occurred just three miles from the scene of one of last week's incidents that left eight people dead. Two days later, a man attacked a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, killing ten people. The spotted armed man sparked fresh waves of unease in Atlanta and intensified national fears of copycat crimes.
There is no proof that the armed man arrested at the grocery store was motivated by the two mass shootings. However, Jillian Peterson, an associate professor of criminal justice at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, expects a resurgence in such attacks following nearly a year without such events in the United States.
Last week's mass shooting in Atlanta, in which a lone gunman opened fire at three massage parlors, killing eight people, including six Asian women, may have "flipped this switch back on." It may also inspire others to commit similar massacres, according to Dr. Peterson.
On Thursday, University of Kentucky police arrested a man in the school's Chandler Hospital parking lot, causing yet another scare, the New York Times reported. He was dressed in body armor and armed with several weapons. He was suspected of having two explosive devices in his vehicle, as per the police report.
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