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Ahmaud Arbery Arrest For Bringing Handgun To School Basketball Game and Obstructing Officers
Ahmaud Arbery Arrest For Bringing Handgun To School Basketball Game and Obstructing Officers
https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/police-arrest-four-in-span-of-an-hour/article_23db5ae1-
9e5d-519e-a683-c1a216c042c0.html
Four people are facing gun-related charges after area police had a wild hour Tuesday night in two
separate incidents that involved guns at about the same time.
One incident locked down the Brunswick High School gym during a basketball game while the
other involved an AK-47-type assault ri e.
At about 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, Glynn County Schools Resource Of cer Jody Vicent noticed a man
with a handgun tucked in the waistband of his pants attempting to enter the basketball game
between Brunswick High School and Glynn Academy at the Brunswick High School gym.
The man, identi ed by Schools Police Chief Rod Ellis as 19-year-old Ahmaud Marquez Avery, ran
when Vicent tried to stop him, said Ellis, who was on alert in his police vehicle in a parking lot
because of a nearby chase involving Brunswick police.
https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/police-arrest-four-in-span-of-an-hour/article_23db5ae1-9e5d-519e-a683-c1a216c042c0.html 1/3
5/18/2020 Police arrest four in span of an hour | Local News | The Brunswick News
Ellis said he drove alongside Avery with his gun pointed at him as Avery ran along a sidewalk in
front of the school. After being ordered to stop several times, Ellis said Avery ran between
buildings to the back of the school, where two of cers cornered him and arrested him.
"Once he was handcuffed, the offender con rmed by exculpatory statement that he was indeed
armed, but he had dropped the weapon in his attempt to escape," Ellis said.
An intense search, joined by Glynn County police, Brunswick police and College of Coastal
Georgia police, found a .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol under a folding sandwich board-style
sign in front of the gym, Ellis said.
In the course of the chase, a school resource of cer fell and fractured his hand.
Ellis said the gym was placed on lockdown immediately after Vicent spotted the gun, meaning no
one was allowed into or out of the building.
Avery is charged with two felonies, possession of a weapon on school property and obstruction
of an of cer with violence, and a high and aggravated misdemeanor of obstruction of a public
school. Ellis said other charges may be pending.
While the chase at the high school was going on, Brunswick Police were busy several blocks to
the south after hearing gunshots while they investigated a report of an armed robbery.
Capt. Kevin Jones said of cers responded at about 7 p.m. to the 2400 block of Union Street,
where a man working on a three-man crew selling furniture from the back of a truck said he had
been robbed.
The man told detectives he and his co-workers had met three men at a nearby fast-food
restaurant who asked them to deliver furniture to an address on Union Street.
When the furniture truck arrived, Jones said the three would-be robbers, one of them carrying
an AK-47-type ri e, ordered the man out of the truck, took his money and told him to undress. As
the man was following the alleged robbers' orders, Jones said the man's co-workers who were
still in the truck sped away in it.
https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/police-arrest-four-in-span-of-an-hour/article_23db5ae1-9e5d-519e-a683-c1a216c042c0.html 2/3
5/18/2020 Police arrest four in span of an hour | Local News | The Brunswick News
While detectives were interviewing the man they heard what sounded like handguns being red,
accompanied by several rounds from an automatic ri e.
When of cers got to an area near Ellis Street that they thought was the source of the gun re
they saw a car that matched the description of the one the alleged robbery victim had told them
his robbers had been driving.
Police chased the car a few blocks before the suspects stopped and tried to run away. Police
arrested all three, Jones said.
Of cers found two .40 caliber pistols in the car and the assault-type ri e a short distance away,
Jones said.
Police charged Jessie Fleming, 22, of Glynn County and Devonte Hicks, 21, of Brunswick with
armed robbery and possession of a rearm during the commission of a crime. They charged
Donnie Baldwin, 27, of Brunswick with armed robbery, possession of a rearm during
commission of a crime, possession of a rearm by a convicted felon and involvement in criminal
street gang activity.
* Reporter Michael Hall writes about public safety, environment and other local topics. Contact
him at [email protected], on Facebook or at 265-8320, ext. 320.
Michael Hall
https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/police-arrest-four-in-span-of-an-hour/article_23db5ae1-9e5d-519e-a683-c1a216c042c0.html 3/3