In the late morning of July 19, 2017, a burst of gunfire shattered the daytime calm at the Crescent Square Apartments on Austell Road in Marietta, Georgia. When the chaos subsided, 29-year-old Roland Milton III, an African American male, was found dead in the parking lot. The police were called to the scene at 11:34 a.m. and discovered Milton had succumbed to his injuries.
The brazen daytime shooting left the community in shock and a family searching for answers.
Witnesses reported that an argument preceded the fatal shooting. According to police, four masked men, described as Black males dressed in dark clothing and white gloves, opened fire on Milton. All four assailants were armed with handguns and fled the scene on foot before law enforcement arrived. Investigators found the crime scene active, with numerous people in the parking lot, yet they struggled to gather cooperative witness accounts of what had transpired. This lack of cooperation from potential witnesses proved to be a significant hurdle in the early stages of the investigation.
In the days following the tragic event, Milton's family made emotional public pleas for anyone with information to come forward. His brother, Bishop Eusebio Phelps, Sr., expressed his heartbreak, emphasizing that his brother, a father to three young daughters, did not deserve such a violent end. The family, convinced that people in the community knew the identities of the shooters, offered a reward for information that would lead to an arrest. This reward was later increased. Despite their efforts and the ongoing police investigation, no arrests have been made in the case.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear, though investigators have considered robbery as a possibility. The four gunmen responsible for the death of Roland Milton III have not been publicly identified, and the case remains an unsolved homicide. The investigation is still considered active, with law enforcement continuing to seek leads that could bring closure to Milton's grieving family and justice for his death.
