Gang members involved in fatal Upatoi home invasion were there to steal drugs, cops say
The six suspects charged in a fatal Jan. 18 home invasion in Upatoi are gang associates who held multiple people at gunpoint and pistol-whipped them while robbing the residence of a “large quantity of marijuana,” a detective testified Tuesday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Detective Sherman Hayes said five people who confronted the residents and their visitors on a backyard patio before fatally shooting Cross Henderson inside the Upatoi Ridge house wore T-shirts tied around their faces, but those disguises slipped during the six-minute ordeal, enabling witnesses to recognize some of their assailants.
But for that the witnesses paid a price, Hayes said: The intruders beat them with the butt of their guns, including an AK-47-style rifle that split one victim’s head open. Another was left with severe bruising to the neck.
Hayes was testifying in a preliminary hearing for Ceuion Marque English and Anthony Nathan Foster Jr., both 23; Trevonuis Tyriq Williams, 22; Laqwane Demarcus Kindred, 26; Mercedes Ann Marie Kraft, 18; and a female juvenile, 16, whose name has been withheld because of her age.
The invasion
The detective described a planned and poorly executed raid on the house where Henderson was outside with five friends while his mother, uncle and 13-year-old brother were in a bedroom upstairs.
Around 12:30 a.m., five masked intruders, three of them males with guns and two of them unarmed females with bags or backpacks, confronted the friends on the back patio.
They forced everyone into the house, with one gunman separating Henderson from the others and marching him to the stairs, Hayes said. “Give it up!” the robbers shouted.
The gunman who was with Henderson shot him in the lower back with a 9-millimeter pistol as Henderson tried to get away, running upstairs and shouting for his mother to call 911, the detective said. Henderson crawled into the bedroom calling for help, and the gunman followed.
The other intruders then forced everyone into the upstairs bedroom, ordering them to lie face down and beating them if they looked up.
Henderson’s mother was escorted into a bathroom where again the robbers demanded “give it up” before taking the marijuana, cash and some of the victims’ cell phones, Hayes said.
Police were called at 12:45 a.m. Henderson was rushed to Piedmont Columbus Regional, where he died from his wound at 2:07 a.m. He was 21.
Suspects identified
Investigators checking neighbors’ security camera footage saw that the gang arrived in a white car about an hour before the incident, repeatedly coming and going on the cul de sac before five got out and entered the wood line, a sixth remaining in the car, Hayes said.
Some of the witnesses told officers that they recognized Foster, whom they knew from Northside High School, where Henderson graduated in 2016, and that they thought they knew some of his accomplices, whose T-shirt masks slipped down during the violence.
Detectives were able to name some of the others through Foster’s Facebook page, said Hayes, who alleged they were associated with a homegrown gang called “FNG” that had been involved in other homicides while attempting to rob drug dealers. Through photo lineups, witnesses identified Kindred, English, Williams, Kraft and the juvenile, he said.
On Nov. 22, police with a SWAT team served search warrants at Foster’s home on Conner Road, where they arrested Foster, Williams and English, sending a robot in to find the latter two when they initially refused to come out.
Officers searching the residence found guns and ammunition, and marijuana that was packaged as Henderson’s mother had described what was taken in the robbery, Hayes said.
That same day, investigators raided Kindred’s home on Flat Rock Road, finding more guns, including an AK-47 rifle and a 9-millimeter pistol, the detective said.
Informed that they were wanted for murder, Kraft and the juvenile surrendered to police at the Public Safety Center downtown, Hayes said. English was the only suspect who did not give investigators a statement, he said. Other suspects identified their accomplices, he added.
Police also have a white car they believe was the vehicle used that night, he said.
Earlier robbery
As defense attorneys questioned Hayes, Assistant District Attorney Veronica Hansis repeatedly objected, telling Judge Julius Hunter that the attorneys were on a “fishing expedition” for evidence in an ongoing investigation. Recorder’s Court hearings need only establish that the evidence is sufficient to forward the case to Muscogee Superior Court, she said.
Still Hunter allowed some additional questions, including one from Mark Shelnutt, who represented Kindred. Shelnutt wanted to know whether anyone inside the house had communicated with the suspects before the intrusion.
Hayes replied to that by saying police had discovered another robbery occurred at the residence three or four days earlier, but had not been reported. He did not elaborate, and Hansis again objected, telling Hunter the case involved a gang that still was threatening some of the witnesses.
“We may have more parties involved in this crime,” Hayes said.
Police refused to say whether any victims in the home invasion could face charges related to the marijuana that was in the house.
Hunter found probable cause to send the case on to Superior Court, ordering each suspect held without bond on a murder charge.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 1:57 PM.