ATLANTA — A mother and daughter accused of robbing a man at gunpoint inside his own home while stripping his air conditioning unit for scrap metal are in jail.
Police say the 35-year-old man had just moved into the home on Meador Way the day before and was expecting a city worker to show up to turn on his water.
Instead, investigators say he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun as his A/C unit was ripped apart in the middle of the day.
Police say Chyneka Batista and Alexis Avery face multiple felony charges.
Police say 48-year-old Batista pointed a handgun at him. Investigators say the man grabbed a hammer and chased Batista outside, where he found Avery, 33, stripping his HVAC unit.
Police say the two struggled before Avery hit the victim in the head with a pair of bolt cutters, and both women ran away.
The victim pulled out his cell phone before they got away and recorded their SUV leaving the neighborhood.
Police say that video helped them identify the license plate and track the suspects to a scrap metal facility where the stolen parts had just been sold.
“It’s crazy, because this is a dead end. It’s only us right here. To come back here, you’ve got to be looking for something,” said neighbor Jamal Thornton.
Investigators say a third woman, identified in court documents as the driver of the getaway SUV, was also detained and questioned. She had not been charged in the case as of Wednesday afternoon.
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