COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County police are urging residents to take care and use designated safe zones for transactions to ensure their safety.
A recent stolen car incident, where a man was robbed at gunpoint, prompted police to remind residents there are safe zones at all five Cobb County police precincts.
“We have far too many people falling prey to predators like in this case,” CCPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Wayne Delk told Channel 2 Action News.
In this particular case, a man thought he was meeting someone interested in buying his car. He went to a public place at night, a RaceTrac gas station.
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Instead of selling the car, the man had a gun pointed in his face by the supposed buyer, Karmerio Ross.
Police said the man tried to sell his car to Karmerio Moss. Instead, Moss pointed a gun at the victim and forced him out of the car and onto the ground, stealing it.
The victim of the car theft is a young father with a baby on the way, neighbors told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell.
“He loved his car, that’s messed up, that’s terrible,” Malcolm Barnes, a neighbor, said. “It’s kind of messed up, they have kids over there.”
“That is a scary situation, especially in this area. I don’t think it’s a good thing to do, you never know what’s going to happen,” Jasmin Doming, another neighbor, said.
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It was unclear if the victim had advertised his car online, but Cobb police want to remind buyers and sellers to do business in a safe place.
“We’ve created these safe zones for shoppers and sellers,” Delk said.
There was a safe zone about 10 minutes away from the RaceTrac where the car was stolen.
The safe zones are easy to find, but police say they want more people to use them.
“It’s being video recorded for one, and number two, we’ve got police already there,” Delk told Channel 2 Action News.
It’s not clear if police have recovered the stolen car.
Moss was caught quickly, according to police and arrested on Monday. He’s currently in jail without bond and faces four charges:
- Possession of a sawed-off shotgun, sawed-off rifle, machine gun, dangerous weapon, or silencer, which is a felony
- Felony armed robbery
- Possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of a crime, also a felony
- Hijacking a motor vehicle robbery, a felony
Jail records from Cobb County show Moss also has a hold designation for the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. According to records in DeKalb County, Moss was charged with driving without a license, failure to stop at a stop sign, and a headlight violation back in April.
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