COBB COUNTY, Ga. — UPDATE: An arrest has been made in the murder of a cab driver Thursday morning. Police have arrested Justin Marquis Graves,34, from Marietta, for felony murder. Graves is being held at the Cobb County Jail.
Marietta police are investigating the shooting death of a cab driver on the 2200 block of Northwest Parkway.
Police say officers were called to the scene around 2:56 a.m. Thursday. They found a dead man with a gunshot wound in the cab's driver seat.
Police have identified the victim as Micahel Bemus,65, who drove for Victory Taxi.
https://twitter.com/AmyNapierViteri/status/629328440546754560
“It was a taxicab driver, and he was just laying dead like this,” hotel guest Matthew Thompson said. “He was just laying dead in his van."
Thompson told Channel 2's Amy Napier-Viteri that he woke to police knocking at his hotel room door.
“He said, 'Did you hear any noise?' And I told him I did hear a loud pop and screeching noise,” Thompson said.
Investigators said evidence led them to the Masters Inn on Windy Hill Road later Thursday morning. Newschopper 2 flew overhead as Cobb county SWAT and Marietta police pulled evidence from a person of interest's hotel room. Channel 2 Action News saw investigators going through dumpsters on the property.
According to investigators, Victory Taxi in Marietta said Bemus drove a taxi leased from the company and had been doing so for several years.
A representative told Napier-Viteri that Bemus was killed by a passenger in the taxi. However, at this time investigators have not commented or said whether robbery is a motive.
“It's scary because my mind can only think what was it over? Was it a taxi cab fare?" said Thompson.
Channel 2 Action News also learned a Cobb police SWAT officer was hurt when he accidentally fired his gun and hit himself in the foot following the execution of the warrant at the second hotel.
Police confirmed the officer was taken to a hospital for treatment but will be OK.
Anyone with information on this incident should call CrimeStoppers at 404-577-TIPS.
WSBTV
