On a Thursday evening in July of 2020, Clifton Casey Emmert and his companion, Ronald Green, were fatally shot in what police have described as an "ambush-style" attack. The two men, both from Marietta, were sitting in Green's car in the bustling parking lot of the Cumberland Marketplace shopping center in Smyrna, Georgia, when the tranquil early evening was shattered by gunfire around 5:50 p.m. A lone gunman reportedly drove up, exited his vehicle, and opened fire on Emmert and Green before making a swift departure.
The immediate aftermath of the shooting left a scene of chaos and a community in shock, as the brazen violence had unfolded in a typically busy commercial area. Law enforcement officials quickly descended on the scene, but the perpetrator had already vanished. Investigators began the arduous task of piecing together the events that led to the deaths of the two men. They soon released a description of the suspect, a thinly built Black male with short dreads in a twist-style, wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with white stripes, black fitted jeans, a medical face mask, and red and white sneakers. The getaway vehicle was identified as a dark gray, newer model Toyota Camry with a temporary license plate that read "tag applied for."
In the days following the tragic event, the Smyrna Police Department, with the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, appealed to the public for assistance in identifying the suspect. Despite the release of a detailed description of the shooter and the vehicle, the case has remained unsolved, with no arrests made or suspects publicly identified in the years since the incident. The motive for the shooting has also not been released, leaving the families of Clifton Casey Emmert and Ronald Green without answers or a sense of justice. The investigation into the double homicide is ongoing.
