Atlanta police said Sunday that a violent street gang took a major blow after nine of their members were arrested. The arrests happened after smash-and-grab burglaries targeting two Atlanta businesses Sunday morning.Police said they arrested nine of the gang's members. Investigators said the suspects can be seen on surveillance video breaking into one of the store's around 3:00 a.m. Sunday."The gang, 30 Deep, we believe is a fairly significant blow to that organization and it is our intent to bring gang related charges against all those individuals," said Dep. Chief Calvin Moss of the Atlanta Police Department.Investigators said two adults and seven juveniles with connections to 30 Deep were put behind bars. Police said the nine suspects are responsible for stealing at least two cars and then using those vehicles to crash into two businesses so they could steal high-priced merchandise.
Police said the suspects broke into one store in southwest Atlanta and another in Underground Atlanta."The two vehicles that were stolen this morning and then used in the smash-and-grab, we believe it's their M.O. to carjack citizens, take their vehicle and then use them in the break-ins," said Dep. Chief Moss.Detectives said it is likely that the nine suspects who were arrested will be linked to other violent crimes in the metro area.Police said they are now looking for a green older model Pontiac Grand Prix and more arrests are possible."Some of the people this morning were a young as 14 years of age, we've had younger. It's very disappointing and something the citizens of Atlanta should be concerned about," said Moss.Police said each smash-and-grab caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage to the business involved. The gang 30 Deep an alleged member was accused of murdering a bartender at a pub in Grant Park.The killing of John Henderson at the Standard Food & Spirits on Memorial Drive on Jan. 7 last year sparked outrage and a community backlash against crime that influenced the mayoral election. Happenstance led to the arrest of Jonathan Redding, 17, of Atlanta, in connection with the murder.Two days after Henderson was shot dead in the robbery, Redding and his friends forced their way into a southwest Atlanta home and got into a gun battle with the homeowner, prosecutors have said. Redding was shot in the shoulder, prosecutors said, and left a gun at the house with his blood on it. Detectives later linked the gun to Redding with a DNA test and tied the weapon to Henderson's murder with a ballistics test, prosecutors said.
Police said Redding, who had the number "30″ tattooed on his cheek, was a member of 30 Deep, and that he had several, as yet uncaught, accomplices in the robbery at the Standard.Since being tied to the killing, the gang, reportedly based in Mechanicsville near Turner Field, has gotten a lot of police attention.
In December, officers arrested two adults and four juveniles in connection with "smash and grab" burglaries of two southwest Atlanta shoestores. The police said two of the suspects were members of 30 Deep.
A week earlier, police nabbed six other alleged members of 30 Deep. That time four adults and two juveniles were arrested in connection with smash and grab heists at several high-end mall stores in and around Atlanta.In July, Atlanta police arrested two men after a high-speed chase and linked them to an attempted break-in at a Midtown clothing boutique that had been hit previously by burglars who made off with thousands of dollars worth of high-end blue jeans and other clothing. Police said both their suspects were members of 30 Deep.And back in May, a week after Redding's arrest in the murder at the Standard, Atlanta police recovered stolen flat-screen televisions and blue jeans from a boutique burglary while arresting several alleged members of 30 Deep.