Gun charge heads to court
A Georgia man will be heading to county court after a felony gun charge filed against him was bound over following a preliminary hearing on Monday.
Leighton U. Ellis-Kerr, 31, of Decatur, Georgia, will face formal arraignment on July 3, after Magisterial District Judge William Fullerton bound over a felony charge of firearms not to be carried without a license. He continues to be held in Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail.
Patrolman Nicholas Shulik testified during the proceeding Monday, saying that officers were called to an apartment building in the 500 block of South Washington Street for a disturbance call. While investigating what would soon be found to be an armed robbery, he said three people, two black men with dreadlocks and a woman, exited the back of the building. Witnesses reported that those three people were the suspects, according to court documents, but police were unable to locate them.
Later, a person matching the description of one of the men involved in the incident left a home on the 400 block of South Washington Street and got into the back of a vehicle, which then drove off, and was then pulled over a short time later, he said.
Ellis-Kerr was identified as the back seat passenger, and at his feet, partially hidden under the seat and wrapped in a T-shirt a handgun was found, and it was found that Ellis-Kerr did not have a license to carry a concealed firearm, court documents state.
Two other people, however, were charged in connection to the robbery incident — Tiffany A. Crawford, 32, and Barry J. Murray, 22, both of Butler.
A full story will appear in the Butler Eagle.