GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — An Uber driver was shot in the back and killed early New Year’s morning in what police say was a carjacking by a 15-year-old suspect.
58-year-old Cesar Tejada, of Grayson, a father of two, picked up Christian Simmons on Rangewood Drive in Lilburn around 4 a.m. on Thursday, according to Lawrenceville Police.
Simmons requested a ride to Groveland Parkway in Lawrenceville. Surveillance video captured Tejada’s black SUV in the neighborhood just before the shooting.
According to the arrest warrant, Simmons exited the back seat and shot Tejada in the back. Tejada’s body was left in the roadway, Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson learned.
“It’s a senseless act and not the way any family would want to start a new year,” said Capt. Dena Pauly of the Lawrenceville Police Department.
“It doesn’t appear that there was any sort of argument. It appears to be just a carjacking,” Pauly said.
Detectives used Flock camera technology to track Tejada’s stolen SUV back to the Lilburn neighborhood where the Uber trip started. Officers staked out Simmons’ home Thursday afternoon.
“The suspect exited the home, began walking down the road, and we were able to take the suspect into custody,” Pauly said.
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Neighbors were stunned about the arrest and the tragedy on Friday.
“My first question is how did he have a gun or was it his gun,” asked Michelle Guzman-Candelaria, who lives in the Lilburn neighborhood where Simmons was arrested.
Police declined to say where the weapon came from.
Simmons is charged as an adult with murder. No booking photo has been released because of his age.
Tejada was working overnight hours to provide for his family when he was killed.
“My condolences, I mean, first day of the year and this is what happened,” Guzman-Candelaria said
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