By Joe Johnson
A Gwinnett County grand jury indicted five purported gang members in connection with the December homicides of two Athens men whose bodies were later found in a Lawrenceville rental storage unit, authorities announced Thursday.
Four of the alleged gang members were charged with murder for the deaths of Joshua Lee Jackson and Derrick Davion Ruff, both 25.
The indictment suggests the victims were tortured before they were shot and killed.
All five defendants are purported members of the Gangster Disciples. They were charged in the 21-count indictment with concealing the death of another and violating the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism Prevention Act. The victims were also suspected Gangster Disciples and police believe their murders were gang-related.
The alleged killers were identified by authorities as Lesley Chappelle Green, 30, of Stone Mountain; Shabazz Larry Guidry, 24, of Decatur; Robert Maurice Carlisle, 30, of Lithonia and Philmon Deshawn Chambers, 30, of Dunwoody.
All were arrested during an investigation that was headed by the Gwinnett County Police Department because that county was where police said the crimes were committed.
Athens-Clarke County police and the FBI assisted.
Guidry, Green, Chambers, and Carlisle were each charged with two counts of malice murder, felony murder and multiple counts of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, concealing the death of another, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and conspiracy.
The indictment appears to imply that the two Athens victims were tortured before they died. According to the indictment, the felony murder charges for Guidry, Green and Carlisle stem from the underlying charge of aggravated battery for “seriously disfiguring Ruff’s heart” and “rendering (Jackson’s) brain useless.”
A fifth person, identified by police as 29-year-old Justin Jamal Davis of Snellville, was charged with two counts each of concealing the death of another, conspiracy and participating in criminal gang activity, according to the indictment.
When the indictment was filed in Gwinnett Cunty Superior Court, Chambers was in custody at the Clarke County Jail. He was arrested March 26 for allegedly murdering 32-year-old Rodriguez Apollo Rucker. The victim was gunned down outside his home on Royal Court in east Athens on Dec. 14. Police said the shooting might have been a gang-related.
Chambers was transferred to the Gwinnett County Jail on May 24, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Four days after Rucker was killed on Dec. 18, Ruff and Jackson, both 25, went missing from Athens. Three months later, on March 17, their bullet-riddled bodies were found inside a unit at Extra Space Storage in Lawrenceville.
As of Friday, all suspects were in custody except for Davis.
Police encourage anyone with information concerning Davis’s whereabouts to call Crime Stoppers of Greater Atlanta at (404) 577-8477.
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