Videodrome, the Poncey-Highland movie rental store that’s been a go-to for film buffs since 1997, was robbed Friday night.
Owner Matt Booth tells CL that a male suspect entered the store at approximately 10:45 p.m. and browsed film selections. After purchasing a movie, the suspect allegedly displayed a gun to the clerk and demanded the contents of the register. (Booth declined to say how much cash the suspect took.)
No one was injured during the robbery. An Atlanta Police Department spokesman told CL he was working on providing more details about the case. We’ll update when we hear word.
If you were among the more than 37,000 people who watched the first video on YouTube, you’ll recall that it shows three perps checking out the house, kicking in a side door and carrying out a mammoth flat-screen TV. They were in the house less than 30 seconds.
Aided by tips from video-viewers, police raided a house in nearby East Lake a few days later, nabbing six suspects and retrieving eight stolen flat-screen televisions, three laptops and several digital cameras.
Well, apparently someone didn’t get the memo that the Kopp home is rigged with cameras. Alyssa just alerted me that their house was broken into again this past Friday. This time it was four suspects, but the MO was exactly the same: ring the doorbell, kick in a door and then, in and out in less than a minute.
And, as you’ve no doubt guessed, the robbers were again captured on tape (or, more likely, hard drive). Judging from the video below, it looks as if the Kopps have installed even more cameras than they had last year. Also, this time, no flat-screen.
It’s a pisser to be robbed twice in less than a year, but Alyssa is optimistic:
Since we were so successful in catching them last time, we are asking for the media’s assistance again in getting these pictures and the video circulated far and wide in the hopes that we’ll have the same luck.
Late Wednesday night, two bar patrons leaving East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern were approached by 29-year-old Jamarcus Usher. After the couple climbed into their vehicle, Usher reached for his waistband. Fearing that Usher was a threat, one of the bar patrons knocked him to the ground back a few feet with the door of his pickup truck, then shot and killed him after Usher raised his weapon.
Eerily, Usher’s MySpace page lists his occupation as “staying alive.”
Another bit of strangeness: Usher died in almost the exact spot where, eight years ago, another robbery suspect was shot and killed.
It’s not yet clear if this week’s shooting has anything to do with the climate of fear that has descended on Atlanta following a recent spate of violent crime, including the shooting death of John Henderson. Henderson, a bartender at the Standard in nearby Grant Park, was killed Jan. 7 by armed robbers who broke into the Memorial Drive restaurant.
It seems to me that Atlanta — and East Atlanta Village in particular — has been through this before.
An interview with Ashley Elder, the bartender who was closing up the Standard Food & Spirits alongside John Henderson the night he was killed, aired on Fox 5 this weekend.
In the interview, Elder recounted the Jan. 7 attack. She told Fox 5 that she and Henderson were about to leave the popular Memorial Drive bar and restaurant when a group of gunmen broke in. She said she was in the office and Henderson was behind the bar when the gunmen shattered the Standard’s glass door.
Elder said she begged the robbers not to kill her, stating her grandmother had just died and her mother wouldn’t be able to bear the loss. She also said Henderson, who joined her in the office after being shot in the leg, was conscious and alert — until the gunmen, upon leaving, fired several rounds through the office’s closed door.
Elder’s interview was aired the same day the AJC ran a story stating that most of the details police originally released about the crime were incorrect.
A reward for info identifying the gunmen has topped $10,000.
UPDATE: Just learned that Elder also talked to WSB-TV Channel 2 the day before.
Tears, laughs, prayers, cigarettes and calls for organizing against crime were the orders of business this morning at a vigil in front of the Standard Food & Spirits — where, one day earlier, 27-year-old bartender John Henderson was murdered during an armed robbery.
Police estimated that more than 200 people, including Henderson’s friends and supporters, gathered to celebrate his life and discuss the tragedy at the popular bar and restaurant on Memorial Drive, near historic Oakland Cemetery in north Grant Park. Community residents circulated sign-up sheets and fliers for community action groups. Local filmmaker Kyle Keyser — himself a victim of a crime eerily similar to the one that took Henderson’s life — handed out a flier for a new group he’s forming, called Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks. Keyser said he decided to form the group last night, after hearing about Henderson’s death.
According to the AJC, Henderson and a female bartender were closing up the Standard at about 4 a.m., when four armed men threw a brick through the glass door and ordered them into the bar’s office. Henderson was shot four times execution-style — twice in the head and once in each leg. He later died at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Brandon Barr, a regular at the Standard, stared off into space under the Standard sign as he recalled his memories of Henderson. “He was a great guy,” Barr said, “and I came here to pay my respects.” Rubi Cuautle choked back tears and called for a boycott “of establishments that do not provide adequate security for their employees.” Kelly Dugan held a candle as she accepted deep hugs from well-wishers. “John was one of my really good friends,” she said.
Management and employees of Standard Food and Spirits have established a memorial fund for John Henderson, the 27-year-old bartender who was murdered at the restaurant after a robbery early Wednesday morning.
“We are offering what help we can financially and emotionally to his family,” Chris Johnson, owner and general manager of Standard Food and Spirits, said in a press release from the city. “John was very outgoing and very lively and supportive. Our hearts go out to his parents, extended family and his many friends. It’s unfortunate that someone would take another life in such a senseless crime.”
Tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Southeast Atlanta residents will hold a vigil for Henderson at The Standard. Management and staff are also planning a memorial service at the restaurant in the near future.
To contribute funds to the John Henderson Memorial Fund, visit the Grant Park Neighborhood Association website and follow the link to make a donation via credit card. Checks and money orders, noted as “John Henderson Memorial Fund,” can be mailed to the Grant Park Neighborhood Association, PO Box 89235, Atlanta, GA 30312.
UPDATE: Standard Food and Spirits’ management request the event be a vigil, not a protest, and that participants do not bring signs or placards. Participants are encouraged to bring candles to light as a tribute to the victim. The post below has been edited to reflect the Standard’s request.
Southeast Atlanta residents shaken by the this morning’s murder of a bartender at Standard Food and Spirits will hold a 7 a.m. vigil tomorrow at the Memorial Drive restaurant.
Rally participants are encouraged to bring candles to light.
For driving directions to The Standard, visit here. To find the nearest public transit that serves the restaurant, visit here.
