COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Nearly three years after a Kennesaw man was shot and killed outside a Pappadeaux restaurant in Marietta, two men are facing a slew of charges in Cobb County related to his death.
Demarious Greene and Dylan Marquis Ledbetter, both from Florida, are charged in the murder of Anthony Welch in October 2016.
According to police, Anthony Welch and his wife, Cynthia, were walking to their car after dining at the restaurant when Green and Ledbetter approached them in an apparent armed robbery and tried to steal a necklace from Cynthia.
According to warrants obtained from Cobb County, Greene fired a .38 handgun at Cynthia and Anthony Welch. Police said after he pulled the trigger, the men snatched the necklace off of her neck.
The couple was taken to the hospital, where Anthony was later pronounced dead.
Before the Pappadeaux shooting, the two men were suspected of an armed robbery and aggravated assault in Woodstock, at the Outlet Shoppes off I-575. Days later, the pair was involved in an officer-involved shooting outside a gas station on Windy Hill Road after an officer recognized their car – a grey 2015 Ford Focus – the suspect vehicle in the Pappadeaux shooting.
When a uniformed officer tried to stop the car at the gas station, Ledbetter tried to flee and hit the officer. Greene was in the passenger seat, according to police. The officer was hurt but survived.
Witness video from the scene shows the intense moments the shooting unfolded.
Greene and Ledbetter were already behind bars for prior crimes when they were charged with a slew of crimes in Welch's death and the shooting, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, firearms possession, aggravated assault on a police officer and obstruction.
Closing arguments in the trial began Wednesday. If convicted of murder, the pair face life in prison.