Crime & Safety

Store Owner Fires Gun Near Alleged Shoplifters, Gets Arrested

One of the men arrested has been arrested for robbery, theft and fraud in Athens.

A Hawthorne Avenue store owner carried a handgun as he ran after two suspected shoplifters who took a cellphone from his store. When Athens Clarke County Police found the men near Walgreen's, the store owner's gun went off, near the two men.

According to a story in the Athens Banner Herald, the police officer wasn't able to determine if the gun were discharged deliberately. The store owner, Joe Jerry Villapando, 32, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

The two men charged with theft by shoplifting were Tracy Allen Kirby, 38, and Dustin Lynn Millsaps, 24, both of whom live on Westchester Drive, the story says.

All three men face misdemeanor charges. The story says all three bonded out of the Clarke County Jail.


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