DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Less than a month after finishing a 20-year prison sentence, police say a man started committing crimes again.
Juan Sanchez, a 35-year-old father of two, was shot to death behind some businesses on Memorial Dr. on June 29.
Police have now arrested Marlowe Hawkins and charged him with Sanchez’s death.
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Sanchez’s family told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes that they have never seen Hawkins before.
"I don’t think my brother knew this person‚" Sanchez’s sister Angelica Diaz said.
Diaz says that police have surveillance video that captured her brother’s last moments.
“They said that they had a video they were able to get from Goodyear, and in that video they were able to see that my brother and the two suspects were walking down the street and they ended up in that corner, and it looked like they were having a discussion," she said. “They said he just walked away and they shot him from behind.”
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Hawkins served a 20-year sentence for a different crime.
Police say that in December, just a month after his release, he raped a woman. About six months later, they say he shot and killed Sanchez. He now faces charges for both.
Sanchez’s family says they wish Hawkins was never out of prison in the first place.
“I’m angry, I’m so angry,” Diaz said.
Police are asking for anyone with information on Sanchez’s murder to call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.
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