Men Who Shot Engaged Couple Execution Style May Face Death Penalty

kidnapping pair
Andre Gay, left, and Richard “Fathead” Wilson may face the death penalty for the execution-style murder of the engaged couple. Both had already served many years for previous murders before getting out and killing others.

The men who are allegedly responsible for shooting and killing an engaged couple execution style in Atlanta may face the death penalty if convicted of those murders — and other murders prosecutors say the may be tied to.
Andre Cleveland Gay and Richard “Fathead” Wilson both served decades in prison for committing other murders before they somehow came together to commit the cold-blooded execution of a man and his pregnant fiancee.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said the two men killed at least seven people in Fulton County alone and police are expected to tie even more unsolved murders to the two men.
“This investigation is far from over — we still have a lot of work to do,” said the Capt. Paul Guerrucci, commander of APD’s homicide squad, said at the news conference.
Howard made the announcement during a press conference in a room filled with family members of the victims. They were related to Jeronta Brown, 23, and Briana Brooks, 21, of suburban Atlanta (DeKalb County, Ga.) who were killed when a ransom was not paid.
Gay and Wilson kidnapped the engaged couple about midnight on Aug. 30 because they believed the family had just come into big money from an insurance settlement, Howard said at the press conference, according to 11 Alive.  The couple was shot in the back of their heads a few hours later in northwest Atlanta and found handcuffed together about 6 a.m.
Brown died instantaneously, but Brooks remained alive, barely. She died at the hospital after her baby was saved.
Guerrucci indicated detectives were following up leads regarding other killings the men might have committed.
Howard rationalized seeking the death penalty on the premeditated brutality of the latest double homicide and kidnapping for ransom as well as both having already served many years for murder — plus additional homicides the office believes they are responsible for.
”We have not seen a case like this one,” he said.
Gay, 40, had been paroled in January for another double murder, including a 17-month-old boy, in 1990; Wilson, 41, who had been paroled twice since pleading guilty in 1991 to manslaughter and armed robbery, had gotten out of prison in May 2013 on a firearms charge. He is also charged with murdering a man in drug-deal dispute in January.
“It is overwhelming that so many people are affected by two individuals who really don’t care about life — that is pretty obvious,” said Sadria Strong, Brooks mother.”My daughter was seven months pregnant, handcuffed and gasping for air to save her baby. That is how strong she was.”
She said the “miracle” baby, Kaylie was doing well but still hospitalized after being born 2-months premature. Brooks also had a 1-year-old daughter Kylie and 2-year-old son, Eric.
Gay served 23 years of a life sentence for the murder of a woman and 17-month-old Michael Broughton in a Mechanicsville housing project. Gay fired through an apartment door after Cathy Dozier, 39, fled back inside when after spotted him an an accomplice who were robbing people in the complex in November 1990.
Wilson was paroled after 11 years of a 20-year sentence he got for pleading guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery. He shot to death Kenneth Martin in the Bowen Homes housing project in 1991. Wilson and his crew were randomly robbing residents when the 23-year-old tried to escape by driving away.
In 2008, he got arrested on firearms charges, which kept him in federal prison until May 2013, Howard said.
Several family members said they were glad Howard was seeking the death penalty, 11 Alive reported.
 

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