In the predawn hours of a Friday morning, July 7, 2017, in Decatur, Georgia, Adrian Anderson, a 36-year-old man, was standing by a car, deep in conversation with a friend. The quiet of the early morning at the Waterford Manor Apartments on Covington Highway was abruptly shattered when a figure emerged from the nearby bushes, brandishing a gun. The armed man's demand was simple and menacing: 'Give it here.'
What followed was a brief and desperate struggle. Anderson, in an act of defiance, attempted to fight off his assailant. The confrontation was tragically short-lived. The gunman fired, and Anderson was killed instantly by the shots. The assailant then fled the scene, leaving behind a community in shock and a life senselessly taken. The initial investigation by DeKalb County police pointed towards an attempted robbery as the motive for the fatal encounter.
In the days that followed, investigators worked to piece together the events of that tragic morning, interviewing numerous individuals. Their efforts soon led them to a suspect. Less than two weeks after the shooting, authorities arrested 26-year-old Samuel M. Alexander at his home in East Point. He was subsequently charged with murder and armed robbery in connection with the death of Adrian Anderson and was held in the DeKalb County jail.
