2 men robbed at gunpoint
Rome police are investigating the reported armed robbery of two Chattooga County men who said they were lured to a home on Wood Creek Way through Facebook.
Nine people in the home surrendered to SWAT officers who had surrounded the area and cleared the streets early Wednesday. They were each charged with a misdemeanor count of obstruction and all but one were released on bond.
According to Rome Police Department and Floyd County Jail records:
The victims, in their early 20s, called police from Bruster’s Ice Cream on Shorter Avenue around 10 p.m. Tuesday to say they were robbed at gunpoint by two men at 11A Wood Creek Way when they went there to meet up with a “female companion” in response to a Facebook post. The robbers took $80 cash, an Android cellphone and a Verizon Wireless Ellipsis tablet.
When an officer went to the address and pointed a spotlight he “saw several individuals leering out of the front window,” so he called for backup.
No one would respond to a knock at the door, but he saw through the window a man sitting on a chair pushed up against the door and a number of cellphones. As other police arrived, he called the stolen cellphone and heard it ringing in the house. Again, no one would answer the front door.
Shortly after 11 p.m. someone called 911 to report shots fired on Fortune Street, but the call pinged to another cellphone inside the home.
“This further confirmed that the individuals within the residence wanted us to leave,” the report stated.
When police tried knocking on the side door, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana. Then, just before 11:30 p.m., a car pulled onto the street, a passenger fired 10 shots from the window and it sped away.
At that point, police sought a search warrant, activated SWAT and cleared the street for safety.
However, as SWAT was beginning to assemble, the occupants of the home came out, one by one, and surrendered.
A search of the residence turned up a small quantity of marijuana, a black Airsoft pistol, a sawed-off shotgun, $55 cash and the stolen Ellipsis tablet.
Jailed on the misdemeanor charge of obstruction of law enforcement officers were Canice Lynette Chatman, 40, of 11A Wood Creek Way; Timothy Lamar Chapman, 20, of 1121 Old Cedartown Road, Rockmart; Shakila Akia Jackson, 17, of 427 N. Elm St.; Kendrell Kylan Jones, 25, of 302 Pleasant Valley Road; D’Anthony Jacquez Jolly, 18, of 98 Earl Lane; Marcus Lee Brown, 19, of 11 Fernwood Drive; DeMarco Anthony Farmer, 18, of 1 Glenrise Terrace; Shidell De’aris Millsap, 19, of 558 N. Division St.; and Timothy Lamar Turner, 23, of 13 Timberlane Terrace.
Everyone was released on $1,300 bonds except Jones, who was being held without bond on a parole violation.