Three Kenyans living in the U.S are among five suspects arrested for the shooting of a 25-year-old father of three in Cobb County, Georgia two weeks ago.
The victim, identified as Daniel Perez, was in the passenger seat of a pick-up truck on March 23 when two men approached the truck and one shot him in the head.
Police on Sunday arrested 20-year-old Devin Thomas and 18-year-old Maria Mungai. The other suspects, Charlton Kariuki and Hernandez-Ortiz were booked into jail overnight Monday into Tuesday.
An unidentified 15-Year-Old has also been arrested, according to local police.
Arrest warrants indicate Kariuki is accused of buying the murder weapon, a .38-caliber handgun, and then selling it to the shooting suspect, a 15-year-old who was not named for being a juvenile.
Kariuki also allegedly drove the other suspects to the scene of the crime.
Maria Mungai, 18, is charged with helping the suspects escape and hide after the shooting.
A warrant said Hernandez-Ortiz helped in the plan and execution of the armed robbery.
Thomas, a warrant said, distracted Perez while another suspect came up to the truck and shot and killed the man.
After the shooting, Perez was rushed to the WellStar Kennestone Hospital, where he was declared brain dead.
“It’s just sad because he was just taking his brother to a job interview literally that morning,” his sister-in-law, Lucia Gonzalez, told a local news channel.
Perez was taken off life support and died on March 27.
His family was inconsolable as they wondered why he was shot.
They said the week before his shooting they were at Perez’s 1-year-old son’s baptism. He has two other children, the oldest a 4-year-old girl. He had also recently purchased the truck he was shot in to start his landscaping business.
“They’re cowards for doing this, especially the way they did it.”
The suspects are being held without bail.
