3 Gang Members Get 20 Years For Burglarizing Marietta Gun Shop

MARIETTA, GA -- Three gang members caught burglarizing a gun store in Marietta have been sentenced to 20 years each, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced Wednesday. Marice Davonte Primus aka Maurice Devonte Irwin, 25, of Smyrna, 21-year-old Rashaud Brewer of Dallas and Rashad Dmonte Kirkland, 25, of Austell all pleaded guilty, the DA said.

The trio, members of the Bloods street gang, were busted in July 2016 after neighbors reported hearing loud, "jackhammer-type noises" coming from the vicinity of the Deercreek Gun Shop on Fairground Street, the DA said. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Neighbors told authorities they also saw figures with flashlights on the structure's roof. Unbeknownst to the criminals, all convicted felons, silent alarms inside the gun shop were alerting authorities.

The three men were set to get away with an assortment of about 35 firearms, but had trouble getting out of the shop; one of them fired into the front door in hopes of getting it to open, but by then Marietta officers were on the scene.

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A brief shootout occurred, but no one was hit, Reynolds said. Soon the threesome were in police custody.

During the investigation of the incident, detectives discovered that the trio stopped by a Walmart to buy items that were subsequently used in the burglary.

“This was a very dangerous crime that held potentially catastrophic repercussions had those weapons made their way to the street and the hands of other criminals,” said Assistant District Attorney Jaret Usher, who prosecuted the case, said in a news release. “Our community is just very lucky that no one was hurt and that these guns were recovered.”

Primus, Brewer and Kirkland all pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, violation of street gang terrorism and prevention act, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and theft by receiving. Kirland pleaded guilty to an additional charge, first-degree criminal damage to property, the DA said.

Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark sentenced them to a 20-year term, with 10 years in prison and the rest on probation.

Primus was represented by Marietta attorney Steven Cook; Brewer was defended by attorney Forrest Shealy, also of Marietta; Atlanta attorney Ash Joshi represented Kirkland.

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