ATLANTA — A teen is behind bars and Atlanta Police are still searching for another after they say the two are connected to the violent murder of a 21-year-old man at a Buckhead apartment complex in January.
On Thursday, Atlanta Police charged 18-year-old Matthew Chalmers with murder and aggravated assault in connection to Vionta Yancey Jr.'s shooting death at The Atlantic Brookwood, off Brookwood Valley Circle NE and Peachtree Road.
In less than 24 hours, Chalmers was charged with murder, arraigned and denied bond.
LaTina Mitchell said she learned her son was not only shot, but beaten, inside an apartment at The Atlantic Brookwood.
"I just want justice for him," Mitchell explained. "To have that taken away so quickly is hurtful. I don’t wish this on any parent."
Mitchell said Yancey Jr. was her first born and only son. She said that he had just turned 21 years old on Dec. 6.
She said her son didn't know his killers. She believes he was lured to the apartment, set up and then beaten and shot.
Mitchell said she didn't know them either and never saw them until Thursday, when she saw Chalmers in court. He was arraigned on his charges and his bond was denied. Mitchell said he's one of two suspects in her son's homicide.
"I needed that. That’s part of my heeling," Mitchell said of seeing one of her son's alleged killers. "I wanted to actually look at who could take a person down like that, to me he just came across being a coward."
The second suspect hasn't yet been identified.
While Mitchell continues to grieve and learns to live without her son, she admitted knowing one of his accused killers is off the street will help her breathe a little easier at night.
If anyone has information on this deadly shooting, you're asked to call Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta at 404-577-8477.