Athens teen indicted for holding gun to student’s head on UGA campus in attempted robbery

Jeremiah Scott

By Joe Johnson

A Clarke County grand jury this week indicted an Athens teen for an attempted armed robbery on the University of Georgia campus in which a gun was held to a student’s head.

Jeremiah Scott, 17, of Rocksprings Court was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, possession in a firearm by a person under 18, and possession of a weapon in a school safety zone, according to the indictment filed Tuesday in Superior Court.

Following his arrest the night of the incident, Scott was released from custody on a $5,000 bond with special conditions that include remaining under house arrest with an ankle monitor.

He is scheduled for a June 11 arraignment.

According to the UGA Police Department, the victim, a 19-year-old student from Suwanee, gave the following account of the incident that occurred on February 16:

She was looking at her phone while walking on South Lumpkin Street in the area of the Hill Hall pedestrian crosswalk when the robber, whose face was covered by a purple bandanna approached and displayed a handgun.

Holding the gun at the student's head, the suspect threatened to shoot if she didn't give him her phone. He explained that he wanted it because he was in need of money.

Telling the gunman that a friend of hers had an extra phone that she could get for him, the student then called the friend in Hill Hall and in Korean -- so that the gunman wouldn't understand what she was saying -- told about how she was being held at gunpoint and provided a physical description of the suspect to include the black and white camouflage sweatshirt that he was wearing.

The friend, also 19 and from Suwanee, ran to the dorm's front desk to tell the resident assistant about what was going on, and the RA immediately relayed that information to UGA police.

Officers responded to the area of the hold-up and upon seeing Scott, they chased after and arrested him at gunpoint near the basketball court at the Myers Hall quad.