ATLANTA — Police are raising the reward for information that can help solve a homicide surrounding a man who was shot and killed near a busy portion of the BeltLine in the Old Fourth Ward over the weekend.
Atlanta Police said joggers flagged them down Saturday and directed them toward Elizabeth Street and Bernina Avenue in northeast Atlanta where they found Thomas Arnold dead.
Atlanta Fire Rescue said it had also responded to an "unresponsive male" at the location before Atlanta Police assumed control of the scene.
Investigators announced Wednesday they are now formally treating Arnold's death as a homicide. They are now offering a $10,000 reward for information that can lead to an arrest.
Atlanta Police Homicide Commander Ralph Woolfolk said Arnold lived near the area where he was shot dead. Arnold's family joined officers Wednesday as Woolfolk asked the public to turn over any information that could help solve the case, however, they did not speak.
"Our investigators have been working tirelessly to comb through video and we're asking the public, we do think there might be some additional video out there. If you are a private resident, or if you were someone in the area that might have captured something on your cell phone, please forward that information to our office," Woolfolk said.
Woolfolk added though officers have treated the case as a homicide since the beginning, ballistic evidence, nearby surveillance footage and other information collected since the weekend has prompted police to classify it as a homicide investigation.
"Make no mistake about it, anytime we find an individual in our city -- and it is a death investigation -- we pursue that investigation as a homicide from the onset and we let the puzzle pieces fall in line until it tells us otherwise," Woolfolk said.
Anyone with information about Arnold's death is asked to call the Atlanta Police Homicide Unit at 404-546-4235 or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.