Man, accomplice arrested after murder in Buckhead neighborhood
ATLANTA - Atlanta police have arrested two people in connection to a man found shot to death along Peachtree Battle Avenue NW in Buckhead on Thursday morning.
Travis Landrey, 18, of Louisiana, and an accomplice were taken into custody in connection to the shooting death of 57-year-old Christopher Eberhart.
"We believe he was in Atlanta, in a place he was not familiar with, with a firearm, and he was desperate for transportation," said Atlanta Police Detective Kevin Leonpacher.
Landrey, who was arrested in Alabama, faces murder charges. He is currently awaiting extradition back to Georgia.
Officials say Landrey's run-in with police began in Atlanta at around 4:20 Thursday morning.
"An Atlanta police officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that had no license plate on it and that was in the intersection and Moore's Mill Road," said Det. Leonpacher.
According to detectives, Landrey and alleged accomplice Braylon Espree were inside the vehicle. The driver fled police and when the car was discovered a short time later overturned on Northside Parkway, only Espree was inside. He was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital with injuries. Landrey walked away from the crash on foot before police on foot before officers arrived.
"We believe he was walking around Buckhead somewhere in that same area with a firearm trying to obtain a new form of transportation. We believe he came upon Mr. Eberhart backed into a driveway on Peachtree Battle Avenue and that led confrontation led to the motor vehicle hijacking of Mr. Eberhart's GMC Sierra Pickup and his shooting death there at the scene," said Det. Leonpacher.
At some point, Landrey reportedly hooked back up with Espree after Espree was released from the hospital around 9:30 that morning.
"And after the two hooked up they fled the state of Georgia in Mr. Eberhart's pickup truck and we tracked that vehicle to Alabama southbound on Interstate 65," said Det. Leonpacher.
Working with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, Atlanta police intercepted the stolen vehicle in Mobile County, Alabama at around 4 p.m. Thursday, taking the two men into custody without incident.