Georgia craigslist killing was over shoes

(Story broke 6/30/2017)

Back in May, I posted about the murder of 26-year-old Mezaio Pickett who was shot and killed at a restaurant parking lot in Smyrna, Georgia, during a craigslist deal. At that time, it wasn’t made very clear if this was a robbery set up or something else. Back in late June, it was made public it was indeed something else.

22-year-olds Damien Akeen Scott and Vincent Diandrez Brooks were both charged with Mr. Pickett’s murder, however, we now know Scott was the alleged gunman. Mr. Pickett had agreed to buy two pairs of shoes from Scott through craigslist. The victim was said to have changed his mind about which shoes he wanted and bought the pair of shoes right off of Scott’s feet.

“They exchanged money, gave him the $350, they shook on it and as Mr. Pickett was walking back to the car, the seller said ‘nah,’ walked back, reached through the driver’s window and shot Mr. Pickett one time in the back,” Grubb testified.

Scott fired five more times, then jumped in Brooks’ car and they drove off, according to the Channel 2 report.

So it wasn’t even a robbery. Mr. Pickett, a father of five, was shot and killed just because the seller didn’t like how the deal worked out. He wasn’t even back to the car before he decided to end the life of man who just paid him $350. This is how little value life holds in certain sections of our society.

Brooks is being held equally as culpable in Mr. Pickett’s murder since Georgia law holds getaway drivers as responsible as the gunman. Brooks himself thought he was driving Scott to a job. So in the end, Scott has ruined the life of his friend, taken the life of a stranger, and impacted three families, including his own, all due to his inability to deal with what he perceived as a bad deal without resorting to mortal violence.

Both suspects are currently being held without bond.