Donovan Carter: Georgia man arrested for fatally shooting ex-GF's beau on his birthday after posing as delivery man to lure him out
MARIETTA, GEORGIA: In what the authorities described as a "preplanned, premeditated" attack, a 33-year-old man in Georgia was taken into custody last week after he allegedly pretended to be a delivery driver to lure his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend out of his apartment on his birthday and shot him to death.
Following a multiagency manhunt, authorities announced on Wednesday that Donovan Carter had been taken into custody.
He was charged with one count each of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in relation to the death of Kenneth Cunningham, 40.
Kenneth Cunningham was shot multiple times
A press release from the Marietta Police Department states that on January 3, at approximately 10.30 am, officers were called in response to reports of gunfire outside an apartment building located in the 2100 block of Cobb Parkway South.
As first responders arrived on the scene, they discovered a male victim with multiple gunshot wounds on the ground outside the apartment complex. At the scene, the victim—later identified as Cunningham—was declared deceased.
Cunningham was a resident of the apartment building and had just left when he was shot and killed, investigators soon learned, Law&Crime reported.
Officers from the Smyrna Police Department, the Cobb County Sheriff's Office, and the Cobb County Police Department all arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting to help with the investigation.
Witnesses told authorities they saw a "slender male approximately six foot tall" leave the scene as soon as the shots were fired.
Police declared shortly after the shooting that they were "confident" Cunningham was the intended target and that the shooting was not a "random act of violence."
No suspicion of Donovan Carter's ex-girlfriend's involvement in shooting
According to Marietta Police Public Information Officer Chuck McPhilamy, "the suspect did overtly and intentionally drive over an hour to this location premeditated, and plan this event posed as a delivery driver. (Carter then) lured the victim out of his residence and then proceeded to shoot him multiple times.”
Cunningham was anticipating a package that had not yet arrived on the day of the shooting, according to McPhilamy, who spoke with WXIA.
“He was expecting a package. He was being lured out of his own apartment under the guise of there is a package waiting for you,” McPhilamy told the station. “And it was only then that the suspect confronted him and brutally shot him.”
Authorities have further verified that there is no suspicion that Carter's ex-girlfriend was involved in the shooting death. Regarding Carter's eventual apprehension, McPhilamy stated that the arrest resulted from several law enforcement agencies cooperating toward a common objective.
He told the Journal-Constitution, "Most of the time, we talk about a crime being solved because of one key piece. You had six different agencies all working together to hold this individual accountable. And if it weren’t for all of their efforts … if this were solved, it certainly would not have been solved in the short amount of hours."
