ATLANTA — A driver found a gun in their face at an intersection near an IHOP restaurant.
It happened on Ponce de Leon Avenue in midtown Atlanta. After the carjacking, police spotted the stolen car at a gas station in southwest Atlanta.
That led to a brief pursuit and an eventual crash around the corner from the gas station.
“The police presence is heavy, so I just take my chances at this point,” said Erica Sewell. “It’s a neighborhood that’s crime-ridden. It’s the inner city, and this is what we have to deal with.”
Police told Channel 2's Audrey Washington that a driver was parked at the intersection of Ponce and Charles Allen Drive just before 5 a.m. when two teens forced the driver out of the car at gunpoint.
The carjackers then took off with the car.
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A short time later, police spotted the stolen car near a gas station on Cleveland Avenue in southwest Atlanta.
A witness, who didn’t want to be identified, said one of the two teens walked into the gas station store to buy some food.
“He just bought something, then he took off and all the police kind of, like, chased him. He was in a white truck, I don’t exactly what kind of car it was, but it was a white truck,” the witness told Washington.
Officers said they followed the car until the driver eventually crashed in front of a home on Old Hapeville Road.
Police said the two suspects, identified as Demarco Ponder and Christopher Brown, both 17, tried to run but were caught and arrested. They have been charged with armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a pistol by a person under 18 and obstruction. Brown was also charged with fleeing and attempting to elude.
“Did you hear any sirens or hear the crash at all?” Washington asked Sewell.
“No, but there’s all kinds of shootings and stuff here,” said Sewell, who lives nearby.
She told Washington that the whole thing is senseless and, in the end, hardly worth it.
“Pray for these kids who are out here throwing their life away,” Sewell said.
Cox Media Group
