Occupied home, car targeted in unrelated Athens shootings

By Joe Johnson

An occupied car and apartment reportedly were shot into during what police said were unrelated incidents in Athens Tuesday night.

The first incident was reported at 5:22 p.m. at Bethel Midtown Village, where a 30-year-old man shot at an SUV occupied by his former girlfriend, according to Athens-Clarke County police Lt. Shaun Barnett.

The victim said that after an argument, Allen Crayton tried to open her vehicle’s locked doors and shot at the vehicle as she drove away, shattering the back window.

The woman was not injured.

Barnett said officers confirmed the woman’s story by reviewing video security camera footage and subsequently took out warrants charging Crayton with aggravated assault and reckless conduct.

The suspect had yet to be arrested as of Wednesday afternoon.

The second shooting was reported two hours later, at 7:28 p.m., when an apartment on Zebulon Drive in the Nellie B Homes complex was fired upon while it was occupied by a woman and her son.

Responding officers found that the home was struck by gunfire twice, with second-story bedrooms being targeted and no one injured, according to the report.

While searching the second floor for evidence, an officer located 21-year-old Keivaziay Ball sitting on a bed with his head down and the lights off, according to the report which noted that the young man stated that a bullet had been fired into his room.

Ball told officers that he did not know who would have targeted him at that location, stating that he stays in multiple residences, including the one that was shot at, according to the police report.

Ball is currently free on a $10,000 bond for an aggravated assault charge that stemmed from a March 31 shootout between occupants of two vehicles on Lexington Road near the Marathon gas station.

Although the shooting reportedly involved 15-20 rounds being fired at 1:30 p.m. on a busy roadway, police said there were no known injuries.

Police said the shootout was possibly gang-related.

Police said they determined another participant in the shooting was 20-year-old Ketravian Tyvon Cole, an Athens hip-hop artist who performed under the name of EBE Montana. At the time of the shootout, police said, Cole was in an SUV that was also occupied by a purported member of the Piru 1831 street gang.

Police said they had a warrant for Cole’s arrest on an aggravated assault charge at the time the rapper was fatally shot in Barrow County on May 1.