In the winter of 2017, a burst of gunfire shattered the evening quiet at an Austell, Georgia, apartment complex, leaving two men dead and a community in shock. One of the victims was 28-year-old Roderick Foster, a man from Montgomery, Alabama, whose life was cut tragically short on February 15th. The violent encounter unfolded at the Winwood Apartments on Shenandoah Trail, a place that residents noted had been the scene of previous shootings.
On that Wednesday evening, as firefighters were coincidentally on the scene to assist with a child locked in a car, the sound of gunshots rang out. When police responded to the scene around 7 p.m., they discovered two men suffering from gunshot wounds. Foster and the other victim, 26-year-old Deandre Brooks, also from Montgomery, were rushed to a local hospital. Despite medical efforts, both men succumbed to their injuries, turning the investigation into a double homicide.
The investigation into the deadly shooting quickly led to a suspect. Broderick Lewis Taylor, a 26-year-old from southwest Atlanta, was identified as the individual who had been arguing with Foster and Brooks before the shooting. Just days after the incident, Taylor was arrested and faced a litany of charges, including two counts of felony murder and two counts of felony aggravated assault. Further charges included possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, stemming from a prior theft conviction in 2008.
In May of that year, a Cobb County grand jury formally indicted Taylor on multiple murder counts for the deaths of Roderick Foster and Deandre Brooks. While the motive behind the argument that escalated to a fatal shooting was not publicly disclosed by law enforcement, the indictment marked a significant step towards seeking justice for the two Alabama men whose lives were violently ended far from home.
