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A career criminal who stabbed a grandmother to death while trying to steal her car had been ‘chased out of a liquor’ store just minutes before the killing after ‘trying to rob them while brandishing a knife’.
Grandmother Ellen Bowles, 77, was attacked in the garage of her $800,000 home in Buckhead, an affluent suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday.
Her son Michael Bowles, 30, discovered his mother’s body inside the gated community as he arrived home for the holidays.
Antonio Brown, 23, has been arrested on suspicion of murder, aggravated battery, hijacking a motor vehicle in the first degree, possession of a knife and abuse of a disabled or elderly person.
DailyMail.com can reveal that minutes before the killing, Brown had threatened staff at a nearby liquor store with a knife before being chased away. He then ‘hopped over’ the fence of the gated community.
Ellen Bowles, 77, was attacked by a thug who was trying to steal her car. He had been ‘chased out of a liquor’ store just minutes before the killing after ‘trying to rob them while brandishing a knife’
Antonio Brown, 23, has been arrested on suspicion of murder, aggravated battery, hijacking a motor vehicle in the first degree, possession of a knife and abuse of a disabled or elderly person
Staff at Buckland Wine and Liquor confirmed the incident to DailyMail.com but declined to comment further.
Atlanta Police confirmed they were called to the area at 11:53am on December 10, around half an hour before they estimated mother-of-two Bowles was killed.
DailyMail.com can also reveal that Brown has several prior criminal convictions, including a simple family assault in August 2020.
Court documents show that he spent time in prison for that charge as well as a January 2020 charge relating to drugs and a concealed weapon.
He was charged with shoplifting, a felony, but was released on a pre-trial release signature bone in 2019 March.
Locals in the area have now renewed their calls for Buckhead to become its own city separate of Atlanta – after first proposing the move in 2008.
Deputy police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said it was believed that Brown got into Bowles’s neighborhood by foot
A picture of the man believed to be Antonio Brown was released over the weekend. Brown has since been arrested and DailyMail.com can reveal he jumped into the community after attempting to rob a liquor store
Bowles’ Buckhead home, which is worth nearly $800,000, where she was knifed to death on Saturday
Initially, a newsletter was circulated proposing that the move could reduce residents’ taxes by 50 percent, with the motion largely fizzling out.
But residents rekindled the idea in 2021 as a means of curbing violent crime growing in the area – with many now saying ‘enough is enough’ after Bowles ‘senseless’ death.
Bill White, the CEO of Buckland City Committee, has blasted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is ‘responsible’ for the death of Bowles
He also claims that the area only has 100 police officers but needs 270 to be staffed properly – but residents often only have 15 to 20 officers on duty at one time.
Speaking to DailyMail.com he said: ‘She moved into this gated community to be safer, and it is just horrifying.
‘It is ridiculous that he was out from jail, he should be rotting in there. We have a DA who has blood on her hands.
‘She and the judges who did not send him to jail for these offences are responsible for this.
‘Buckhead people do not hate their cops, we support our cops. But when they don’t have the resources to protect us what can we do.
Grandmother Ellen Bowles, 77, was attacked in the garage of her Buckhead home in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday. Her son Michael, pictured, discovered her body
Ellen dances with her son Michael. She was described as ‘kind, precious, funny, loving’ on a GoFundMe page set up in her honor
‘We do not fault the police at all, but they responded to a murder call in over twenty minutes.
‘This guy had been trying to rob the liquor store nearby and the police were called, if the cops had responded to that then this tragedy may have been avoided.
‘But they just didn’t respond quickly to the reports of a robber with a knife, which they should have, but I don’t blame the cops as they are underfunded and undermanned.
‘The owners of the store saw him on the video of the Lexus and they contacted the police, the owner chased him a distance and he jumped a wall into the gated area.
‘An incident like this where a beautiful member of the community is stabbed to death in her own home, it is galvanizing everybody to make Buckhead their own city.’
Bowles’ son Michael, pictured, reportedly had to wait more than 20 minutes for police to arrive at the scene after discovering his mothers body
During a vigil outside her home on Sunday, friends and family paid tribute to the grandmother as they lit candles and sang Amazing Grace
At a vigil for Bowles, her son described her as his ‘North Star’ adding that he got there a ‘few hours too late’ after the incident.
Michael said: ‘Finding her like that is something that will be with me forever. What happened to her was her worst nightmare. It’s most people’s worst nightmare.
‘I am committed to getting the word out about this outrageous tragedy. I want everyone to understand that none of us are really safe and if this can happen to mom, then it can happen to anyone.’
Police circulated photos of a man believed to be Brown entering Bowles’s 2021 Lexus SUV at the weekend and believe that the grandmother may have walked in on him as he tried to steal the car.
Friends of the animal lover slammed her death as a ‘truly senseless act’, and have launched a GoFundMe to raise money for the Atlanta Humane Society – which has already raised nearly $30,000.
Bill White, the CEO of Buckland City Committee, is one of many residents calling for Buckhead to have their own funding as they do not feel like Atlanta can ‘protect them’ anymore
It is not clear how Brown may have entered the gated community, but cops believed that the murder took place between 11.30am and 12.30pm.
Her vehicle was later discovered dumped in DeKalb county after being driven throughout the city on Saturday.
Police admitted that they are not sure if more than one person is involved in the killing, but so far Brown is the only one to have been arrested.
During the vigil outside her home on Sunday, friends and family paid tribute to the grandmother as they lit candles and sang Amazing Grace.
Deputy police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said it was believed that Brown got into Bowles’ neighborhood by foot, but did not say how he made it past the gate.
Hampton said it was possible Brown was aided by an accomplice, and said authorities were continuing to investigate.
‘We have who we were looking for right now,’ Hampton said in his announcement of Brown’s arrest.
Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information, which can be reported to Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or www.crimestoppersatlanta.org.
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