LOCA^OP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Midweek Edition - June, 24-25, 2020 3A
Dozens of charges
hied in entering
auto investigation
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Crowds mourn Brooks
at storied Atlanta church
Authorities announce arrest of arson suspect during funeral
Dozens of charges were filed against a Union City
man following an investigation into numerous entering
auto cases in South Hall, according to authorities.
Quaves Jermaine Sterling, 22, was booked into the
Hall County Jail Wednesday, June 17.
The investigation started late Tuesday, June 16, in the
Reunion residential development after numerous enter
ing auto calls.
“According to the initial examination, Sheriffs Office
detectives believe there were approximately 50 such
cases in the development, with roughly 30 credit and /
or debit cards among the stolen items,” Booth wrote in
a news release.
Sterling was found in a victim’s pickup truck around
3:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 6000 block of Cedar Springs
Lane, Booth said. He was arrested after a short chase on
foot, and deputies had help with officers from the Bra-
selton and Flowery Branch police departments.
“Detectives with the Sheriffs Office also continue to
follow leads for other potential suspects in the crimes,”
Booth wrote.
More than 50 charges were listed on the Sheriffs
Office’s jail database, including burglary, entering auto
to commit theft, financial transaction card theft and
possession of firearm/knife in commission of a crime.
Authorities did not clarify the possession of firearm/
knife charge when contacted by The Times.
Booth said one of the entering auto cases involved a
vehicle owned by the city of Gainesville. He added Ster
ling allegedly conspired with a second person on the
entering autos and burglary.
That person has been identified by law enforcement
but is not in custody.
Defense attorney Chris van Rossem declined to
comment.
Police: Family Dollar employee
injured with pepper spray
while approaching shoplifter
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Family Dollar employee was sprayed with “what it is
believed to be pepper spray” after approaching a woman
who left without paying for her items, police said.
Gainesville Police are investigating an incident from
9 a.m. Sunday, June 21, at the Atlanta Highway Family
Dollar.
Cpl. Jessica Van said a Black woman wearing a face
mask was putting items into a plastic tote and walked out
of the store without paying.
“When the employee approached the suspect, the
employee was sprayed with what is believed to be pep
per spray,” Van wrote in an email.
The employee suffered superficial injuries and irrita
tion from the spray, Van said.
“The suspect left with an accomplice in a(n) unknown
vehicle,” Van said.
The case is still under investigation. Police did not
release any further details.
BY KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Scores of
mourners Tuesday paid
their final respects to Ray-
shard Brooks at the Atlanta
church where the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. used
to preach, taking part in a
funeral filled with historical
echoes and a tragic sense
that Black America has been
through this all too many
times before.
“Rayshard Brooks is the
latest high-profile casualty
in the struggle for justice
and a battle for the soul of
America. This is about him,
but it is so much bigger than
him,” the Rev. Raphael War-
nock, senior pastor at Ebene-
zer Baptist Church, told the
crowd, less than two weeks
after the Black man was shot
twice in the back by a white
Atlanta police officer follow
ing a struggle in a fast-food
parking lot.
Warnock recited a long
list of names of Black people
who died at the hands of
police in recent years, includ
ing Eric Garner, Michael
Brown, Philando Castile
and George Floyd, lament
ing: “Sadly we’ve gotten too
much practice at this.”
Brooks’ widow, Tomika
Miller, dressed in white, sat
surrounded by family and
friends. Former state law
maker Stacey Abrams and
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance
Bottoms were among the
mourners.
Most people dressed all
in white, while some wore
T-shirts with Brooks’ picture.
Brooks’ killing June 12
came amid weeks of turbu
lent and sometimes violent
protests across the U.S. over
Floyd’s death under a white
Minneapolis officer’s knee
on May 25. In the aftermath
of Brooks’ death, the Atlanta
police chief resigned, and
protesters burned the Wen
dy’s restaurant.
As the funeral was under
way, authorities announced
the arrest of a suspect in
the fire, 29-year-old Natalie
CURTIS COMPTON I Associated Press
Tomika Miller, the wife of Rayshard Brooks, weeps while holding their 1-year-old daughter
Dream during his funeral in Ebenezer Baptist Church on Tuesday, June 23, in Atlanta.
White — according to her
lawyer, the same woman
Brooks described to police
on the night he was shot as
his girlfriend.
The lawyer, Drew Fin-
dling, said White was dis
traught over Brooks’ death
but was “absolutely not
responsible for the fire,”
saying the blaze was already
underway when she was
seen on video approaching
the restaurant.
White has been charged
with first-degree arson,
according to online jail
records.
The deaths of Floyd and
Brooks have led to a ground-
swell of protests against
racial inequality, a move
ment to take down Con
federate statues and other
symbols, and demands for
the dismantling of police
departments or the shifting
of their funding toward social
services.
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