In the early morning hours of an October day, the prelude to a grim discovery began with the sound of gunfire outside a package store on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway in Atlanta. When officers arrived at the scene around 2:50 a.m., they found several vehicles damaged by bullets, but no victim was located. The full picture of this violent episode would not come into focus until about five hours later and miles away in Cobb County.
On the morning of October 25, 2017, the body of 35-year-old
Anton Balentay Watson of Smyrna, a male, was found slumped against the front door of a home on Golden Pine Road in Austell. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound. Investigators with the Cobb County Police Department began piecing together the evidence, which included a stolen car found abandoned near the intersection of Cityview Drive and Golden Pine Road that they believed was connected to Watson.
The investigation into Watson's death was a collaborative effort between the Atlanta and Cobb County police departments. It was determined that the shooting had occurred at the Atlanta location where the damaged cars were found. This breakthrough led investigators to identify three suspects in connection with the homicide.
In December of that year, the first suspect, 24-year-old Shaquille Russ, was apprehended and taken to the Fulton County Jail. The following February, a tip to Crime Stoppers led to the arrest of the second suspect, 24-year-old Eranus Alexander Jr. He and the third suspect, 25-year-old Jeremy Sims, had been added to the Atlanta Police Department's 'most wanted' list in January. Later in February, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal's Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, Jeremy Sims was located at a residence in Stockbridge and taken into custody without incident. All three men faced a string of serious charges, including murder, false imprisonment, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, and kidnapping. Sims also faced a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
