By Joe Johnson
Athens-Clarke County police on Friday were investigating two shooting incidents that occurred within eight hours of each other at housing complexes on opposite sides of town.
The first occurred at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday when someone shot 19-year-old Ketorian Cooper in the breezeway of the 110 building at Bethel Midtown Village. Cooper later died at the hospital and police arrested on murder charges 21-year-old David Devon Richard of Hickman Drive and 15-year-old Quatravis Hull of Athens, who was charged as an adult and was held at a Regional Youth Detention Center.
Then, at about 12:33 a.m. Friday, police said that a 19-year-old female with a Hickman Drive address was seated in her car with three others in the 500 block of East Carver Drive in the Nellie B Homes apartment complex when a dark-colored sedan pulled behind her and several shots were fired at the other car, two of which struck the young woman, who was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The other occupants were not injured.
“It is still early in both shooting investigations but at this time there is nothing to indicate that the two shootings are related,” said Lt. Shaun Barnett, ACCPD’s public information officer.
He said there were no known motives in either shooting.
About the incident at Bethel Midtown Village, Barnett said, “It is believed that the victim and David Richard knew each other prior to this incident and we are working to determine if there were any prior incidents that may have led up to this shooting.”
He added, “There was one round fired and we are still working to confirm which suspect discharged the firearm.”
Both shooting investigations were ongoing, and the incidents do not appear to be related to a series of altercations at the county's two high schools on Thursday.
“Detectives were familiar with the fights that occurred at the high schools and looked into that, but it is not believed that either shooting is connected to any altercations at either of the high schools,” Barnett said.
Police asked for anyone with information about the Bethel incident to contact Detective David Harrison at (762) 400-7361 or via email at david.harrison@accgov.com.
Anyone with information about the Nellie B shooting should contact Sgt. Greg Dickson at (762) 400-7070 or gregory.dickson@accgov.com