In the late hours of a Wednesday evening, the relative quiet of the Masters Inn on Windy Hill Road in Marietta, Georgia, was shattered by the sound of gunfire. On that night, June 17, 2015, multiple 911 calls flooded the Cobb County Police dispatch, reporting that shots had been fired at the motel. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered a grim tableau.
Thirty-two-year-old Demetrius Towns, an African American male from Atlanta, was found lying in a second-floor breezeway, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Despite the immediate response and efforts of emergency personnel, Towns was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the shooting moved swiftly. Within a short period, Cobb County Police had identified and apprehended two suspects in connection with the fatal shooting. The two men, both from Marietta, were identified as 23-year-old Fredrick Hodge and 26-year-old Joseph Cory McCoy. Hodge was taken into custody by officers just minutes after the shooting occurred. McCoy was apprehended after being questioned by investigators. The motive for the shooting was not immediately released to the public as the investigation began to unfold.
Following their arrests, both Fredrick Hodge and Joseph Cory McCoy faced a litany of serious charges. These included felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, indicating that both men had prior felony convictions. They were subsequently booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where they were held without bond as they awaited further legal proceedings. The swift arrests brought a sense of resolution to the initial phase of the investigation into the violent death of Demetrius Towns, though the court process to determine guilt or innocence had just begun.
