Three gang members convicted in fatal shooting of Athens man

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Three Athens gang members will spend decades in prison for their roles in the fatal 2023 shooting of a rival gang associate, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Thursday.

Anthony Brown, Glendarius Tate and

Carr said they would serve the first 25 years in prison and the rest “on strict probation.”

The attorney general said the three men were members of Everybody Killa (EBK), a “hybrid criminal street gang” based in Athens, which has ties to the national Bloods gang. Carr said EBK is also linked to Everybody Eats (EBE), another hybrid criminal street gang in Athens.

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Carr said EBK and EBE were “engaged in a violent feud” with the Red Tape Gang (RTG), another hybrid criminal street gang based in Athens. He said the feud has led to several shootings and murders throughout Athens-Clarke County since 2021, including the deaths of McDavid and 3-year-old Kyron Santino Zarco Smith.

“Turning a blind eye to gang activity only allows the problem to get worse, and the people of Athens-Clarke County deserve better,” Carr said in a statement. “Earlier this year, a three-year-old boy was shot and killed while watching TV on his couch, and here we have a 24-year-old who lost his life in a targeted shooting in a densely populated neighborhood.”

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Shortly after midnight on March 5, 2023, Ja’Vanni McDavid drove four friends away from a party in the Five Points neighborhood of Athens. As McDavid stopped at the intersection of Northview Drive and Pinecrest Drive, a second vehicle – a white Honda Accord – drove through the intersection alongside McDavid’s vehicle.

A few seconds later, the Honda stopped “without provocation,” “and several occupants of that vehicle opened fire on McDavid’s vehicle.”

McDavid and his friends returned fire. Carr said ballistics and trajectory evidence suggested McDavid was accidentally shot by one of his friends during the firefight. He died from his injury.

Carr said police tracked the Honda to apartments in Bethel Midtown Village in Athens, where surveillance footage showed four armed people getting in and out of the vehicle.

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The four armed suspects were later identified as 20-year-old Anthony Brown, 22-year-old Glendarius Tate, 17-year-old X’Zydric Faust and 21-year-old Jaden Appling. Carr said the Honda belonged to Brown.

Police arrested Brown at his home in Athens, where they also found a 9mm handgun. The weapon matched the evidence at the crime scene. Investigators said Brown admitted to driving the Honda and firing the gun.

Police also arrested Tate and Appling in Athens. Both reportedly admitted riding in Brown’s vehicle and possessing firearms.

Faust was arrested in Seminole, Florida.

Investigators discovered that McDavid was an associate of the Red Tape Gang and the defendants were members of Everybody Killa. According to Carr, the defendants decided to open fire on McDavid’s vehicle when they recognized him as an associate of their rival gang.

“The state of Georgia is a crime-committing state because that’s where crimes are committed,” Carr said. “For this reason, and because Ja’Vanni McDavid’s death was the direct result of the defendant’s unprovoked shooting, each of them was charged with directly causing McDavid’s death.”

Carr said the three defendants pleaded guilty to the following charges in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on September 16, 2024:

Anthony Brown:

• 1 count of negligent homicide
• 5 counts of aggravated assault
• 2 counts of violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act
• 1 count of criminal damage to property in the first degree
• 1 count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
• 1 charge of driving with a suspended license

Glendarius Tate:

• 1 count of negligent homicide
• 5 counts of aggravated assault
• 2 counts of violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act
• 1 count of criminal damage to property in the first degree
• 1 count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony

X’Zydric Faust:

• 1 count of negligent homicide
• 5 counts of aggravated assault
• 2 counts of violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act
• 1 count of criminal damage to property in the first degree
• 1 count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony

Carr said the case against Jaden Appling is ongoing.

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