The Atlanta Police Department announced at an afternoon news conference that four people have been charged with the double homicide that took place behind the Vortex restaurant and bar in Little Five Points earlier this year.

Charged with murder are a 14-year-old juvenile, Charlie Baldwin, 17, Thomas Dozier, 25, and Jacques Allen, 17.

Two of those charged were already in custody for armed robberies that took place on North Highland Avenue shortly before the murders. Last week, Atlanta Police had appealed for a good samaritan who had found a discarded wallet from one of the armed robbery victims to come forward and help detectives link those robberies with the murders. The good samaritan came forward over the weekend to help detectives.

Joe Hruska, 33, and Chay Kelsey, 32, were gunned down in a parking lot behind the Vortex in the early hours of March 14.

Collin Kelley

Collin Kelley has been the editor of Atlanta Intown for two decades and has been a journalist and freelance writer for 35 years. He’s also an award-winning poet and novelist.