Police recover sweatshirt worn in Barcelona Wine Bar murder
ATLANTA - Police said that they've recovered a piece of clothing that they believe was worn by a suspect in the murder of an employee during the robbery at Barcelona Wine Bar.
App users: View full article here
Major Adam Lee III, the commander of the Atlanta Police Department's Major Crimes section, showed a sweatshirt that was found in an area near Georgia Tech after the robbery.
"it's very disheartening and our investigators after seeing that they are really driven to get this case solved," said Lee.
The sweatshirt is black Switch number 88 Men's Swagger Neoprene Hoodie Sweatshirt, with the letter S on both sleeves.
Lee said the sweatshirt was discarded by the suspect after they carjacked a vehicle from a Lyft driver at a nearby Yeah! Burger.
He said police believe what happened was the suspects got nervous while traveling in the carjacked vehicle with their lights out when a Georgia Tech officer made a U-turn to perform a traffic stop.
RELATED: 911 calls released in deadly wine bar robbery
The suspects then turned off the main road to a side street. That's where police later found the car with the sweatshirt, masks, and latex gloves strewn around the area.
Lee said all the items have been turned into the GBI for the investigation.
"As my experience as a Major Crimes Section commander, this is actually been the worst crime that I have seen that was captured by a video camera, surveillance camera," said Lee.
The violent attack happened at the Barcelona Wine Bar located at 1085 Howell Mill Road around 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 19. Atlanta Police said the three violent robbers stormed the establishment, bound employees with electrical tape, and forced 29-year-old Chelsea Beller to open the business safe before police said she was gunned down in cold blood.
RELATED: Reward increases, video released in deadly wine bar robbery
Monday, investigators said at least one of the killers may have suffered serious cuts from a razor wire fence after leaving the scene in a carjacked vehicle. They are hoping the blood collected on clothing will lead them to gunmen.
"At least one of the individuals received a significant injury. When they went over the razor wire fence, so there's quite a bit of blood," said Lee.
Police have asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to test the DNA against a nationwide database.
"In my experience as a major crimes section commander, this has actually been one of the worst crimes I've ever seen that was captured by a video camera," Lee said. "So we are relentlessly trying to solve this case."
Police hope someone out there who knows who the suspects are will come forward, if not because of the severity of the crime, then the increasing reward which was raised to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the three armed robbers.
"Anyone who has ever seen this person, possibly leading up to this date. We implore you to call Crime Stoppers," said Lee.
Anyone with information can provide an anonymous tip by calling 404-577-TIPS (8477).