Four individuals connected to a gang bust in Lithonia found themselves shackled to their fates. Camryn Byrd, 23, Nashan Hutton, known also as Nahan Hutton, 24, Darin Harris, 20, and Shadae Woods, 19, hoped for a different outcome as their lawyers pushed for freedom, only to face a firm denial from the bench.
The quartet faces serious charges - a concoction of drug and weapons violations, participation in gang activity, and a direct connection to a cruel murder that chilled the community to its core; their arrests on April 5, alongside 16 others, linked them to a home on Cleethropes Drive, fertile ground for a harvest of firearms and narcotics, the DeKalb County District Attorney said yesterday. The Cedar Park Police Department in Texas tipped off DeKalb officials about armed robbery suspects threading back to DeKalb soil, which led to pinpointing the suspects' lair in Lithonia.
Officers conducting the search snatched up an arsenal fit for a small army: 20 guns including 8 fully automatic rifles, 6 sinister switches turning pistols into machine guns, and enough drugs to fuel extended benders. The aftermath of the raid didn't end there; a calculated hit at a Snapfinger Road gas station the day before the arrests added murder charges to the list for four of the apprehended.
Judge Fatima A. El-Amin saw the gravity within the confines of the courtroom, the safety of the streets taking priority, she evidenced with her bond denial, a stance District Attorney Sherry Boston lauded, explaining, “Today’s bond hearing marked the first step in my office’s involvement in this case. We are glad the judge agreed that these defendants should not be allowed on the streets while we complete our investigation. The sheer number and power of the weapons recovered in this case cannot be overstated. My team and our law enforcement partners are working diligently to determine exactly how many crimes this group is responsible for in our community so that we can hold them accountable and secure justice for their victims", as reported by the DeKalb County District Attorney's office.
