Georgia News Briefly

Baby wounded in accidental shooting

ATLANTA (TNS) — One bullet struck three people, including a 4-month-old baby, when a man accidentally shot himself in the hand Tuesday night in DeKalb County, police said Wednesday.

About 10:40 p.m., Derico Clark was inside a unit at the Windrush Apartments in the 3000 block of Kensington Road when “he mishandled his firearm and accidentally pulled the trigger,” DeKalb County police Maj. Stephen Fore said.

A round went through Clark’s hand, entered and exited a woman’s leg, continued through a wall and struck an infant in the back in another apartment, Fore said.

The child’s mother was feeding the baby in her arms when the shooting occurred, police said.

The infant was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and Clark and the injured woman were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. All were in stable condition, Fore said.

Clark, 23, faces reckless conduct charges, Fore said.

Woman sues dating site after rape

ATLANTA (TNS) — A Georgia woman is suing on online dating site for fixing her up with a sexual predator, a Mableton man who was later sentenced to life in prison for raping the woman during their first encounter.

Devin Richard Hartman had raped at least four women he met online before creating a profile on OkCupid.com in May 2014, according to the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Fulton County State Court. But Hartman, whose online profile was “midwestisbest13,” said his name was Zach Anderson, an Ohio State University graduate who worked for a medical supply company — all part of a persona he created to meet women, according to police.

Hartman is serving consecutive life sentences following his conviction on rape and sodomy charges. The suit alleges that OkCupid.com and its parent companies should have known Hartman was a predator and should not have permitted him to use the site.

“OkCupid defendants failed to exercise reasonable care in operating its website, monitoring users, screening users, and acting on reports of rape and sexual assault,” the lawsuit says.

Tax breaks OK’d for genetics company

ATLANTA (TNS) — A genetics testing facility will be built in Tucker with the assistance of $644,000 in tax incentives.

EGL Genetics Diagnostics will eventually employ more than 300 people at the Tucker location, with average salaries of more than $65,000, according to an analysis of the project by the Decide DeKalb Development Authority.

The development authority unanimously approved the tax breaks Friday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the fiscal analysis of the project through a request under Georgia’s Open Records Act.

The incentives give the company a discount on its DeKalb County and DeKalb school property taxes for the next 10 years. During that time, the business is expected to generate $1.3 million in gross net revenue for local governments.

EGL provides genetic testing services for hospitals, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies.

The Tucker expansion was announced last November, but the tax incentives weren’t approved until last week.

Gainesville campus locked down for gunman

GAINESVILLE (TNS) — A lockdown at the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus was lifted Wednesday following an arrest.

Earlier, students and faculty were urged to avoid the school or “secure themselves in their classrooms or office until further notice” as authorities search for an “armed and dangerous” person.

All events and classes were suspended or canceled and all traffic in and out of campus was restricted.

The person, who was wanted in connection with an armed robbery on Queens City Parkway, was eventually apprehended, the university said.

Hartsfield Uber pickups in holding pattern

ATLANTA (TNS) — City of Atlanta officials may alter a proposal to legalize airport pickups by ride-share services Uber X and Lyft, after a delegation of city and airport officials made a trip to Newark last week to study that city’s deal with Uber.

Airport officials have said they plan to require Uber X and Lyft drivers to submit to fingerprint-based background checks in order to pick up passengers at the airport.

That proposal unveiled in March drew staunch opposition from Uber and Lyft, raising the threat that those ride-share services would not serve Hartsfield-Jackson International if the airport’s proposal were put into place.

The city of Newark and Uber were reportedly at odds over regulations earlier this year, but that has since changed. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka recently reached a deal with Uber will not require government-run fingerprint-based checks, but instead will codify Uber’s existing background checks handled through a third-party provider. The deal includes a $10 million permit fee paid by Uber to the city of Newark over a ten-year period, among other requirements.

Now, after the visit to Newark, Atlanta officials are putting a hold on efforts to put in place new regulations that would officially legalize and regulate Uber X and Lyft pickups at Hartsfield-Jackson, as they look at changing the airport’s proposal.

Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Miguel Southwell had previously said he hoped to legalize Uber X and Lyft pickups at the airport by July 1.

“It’s difficult to say at this time” if it will still happen by July 1, Southwell said this week.

Search goes national for murder suspect

ST. MARYS (TNS) — The search for a man suspected of fatally shooting his girlfriend and wounding her infant child has expanded nationwide.

St. Marys Police spokesman Lt. Shannon Brock said several federal agencies including the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force are now involved in the search for Ronnie “Roney” Wilson Jr.

“He has active warrants nationwide,” Brock said.

Wilson, 31, of St. Marys, is the prime suspect in the April 25 shooting death of Jimeshia Bryanna Gordon at her Cumberland Oaks apartment. Her infant child was grazed by the bullet that passed through her neck. The child was treated and released at a St. Marys hospital.

Brock said it’s uncertain if Wilson is still in the area or if he fled from the region. He is considered armed and dangerous.

“We’re just trying to get him into custody,” he said. “There’s no way of knowing what’s in his mind.”

Wilson contacted family members in Florida after the shooting and they urged him to surrender to authorities. Brock said those conversations are no longer happening.

“To the best of our knowledge, he is not in contact with family members,” he said. “If he was here (in Camden County), it’s likely members of the community would have told us his whereabouts.”

Brock said Wilson probably received help from friends or acquaintances, regardless of whether he remains in the region.