Georgia man held for unlicensed gun
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, Ga., will face formal arraignment on July 3, after District Judge William Fullerton bound over a felony charge of firearms not to be carried without a license. Ellis-Kerr continues to be held in Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail.
Butler police filed the charges against Ellis-Kerr after an incident on May 8, following an incident the day before.
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.
While investigating, a neighbor later reported seeing the individuals enter a home in the 400 block of South Washington Street, and officers began conducting surveillance of the home, Shulik said. Later, a person matching the description of one of the men involved in the incident left the home 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.
When questioned by Ellis-Kerr's attorney, assistant public defender Charles Nedz, Shulik said that he had only witnessed the three individuals from behind as they were leaving the building and Ellis-Kerr was never positively identified in connection with the robbery incident, but “matched the description.”
Two other people, however, were charged in connection to the robbery incident — Tiffany A. Crawford, 32, and Barry J. Murray, 22, both of Butler. Police said during the investigation at least one of the three victims identified Crawford, after the three suspects rushed into the apartment and Crawford pointed a handgun at one of the victims before the two men assaulted him and stole his phone.
A second victim reported being held at gunpoint and his phone and $71 taken, and the third victim had her phone stolen, police said.
The suspects then left, and Crawford and Murray were arrested at a nearby home.
Crawford admitted that she had gone to the apartment “to confront” one of the victims, documents said. She implicated Murray but claimed she only knew the other man by his street name. She denied, however, that she had a gun during the incident, police said. She also denied that she or the other men took any items.
Both Crawford and Murray were also scheduled for preliminary hearings Monday, but those hearings were continued. They both also continue to be held on $100,000 bail.
