Police: Man charged with murdering father linked to 2 other random shootings

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A man charged with murdering a father in DeKalb County has also been linked to two random shootings and a robbery in Atlanta, police say.

Investigators believe Mikeal Demond Callaway’s crime spree started with the two random shootings on I-20 Thursday morning.

They say Callaway then shot and killed Nicc Bankston outside a subdivision on Flat Shoals Road.

“Right now, we don't have a motive,” said Shiera Campbell, with DeKalb County police.

Bankston, who had been out celebrating his birthday, had just pulled up to the gate with his expectant fiancée and young daughter in the car when he was shot.

“The suspect pulled alongside the victim's vehicle, fired several rounds into the vehicle. The victim died at the scene,” Campbell said.

Police say Callaway drove off in a white SUV, the same vehicle identified by victims of the two earlier random shootings at I-20 West and Fulton Street.

Channel 2's Tom Regan learned both of those victims are at Grady Memorial Hospital, listed as stable.

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State police and Atlanta police arrested the suspect following a brief chase, but they say before that, he tried to throw police off his track.

“The vehicle had been spray-painted a darker color to try to camouflage the vehicle,” Campbell said.

Hours after Bankston’s murder, his fiancée, family members and friends held a candlelight vigil to remember their loved one and all he meant to them.

"This is a father, a brother, a son, a nephew that was just living his life," a family member said.

In addition to the murder charge, Callaway is charged with aggravated assault, burglary and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Cox Media Group