Canton Double Homicide Defendant Turns Himself In: Cops

CANTON, GA — The final defendant who was at large after he was indicted in connection to the 2017 double homicide in Canton is now off the streets. That's according to Canton Police Chief Mark Mitchell, who said Bryson Miller turned himself in to one of the agency's supervisors on Tuesday.

Miller is now in custody at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center. The Canton resident is among 13 defendants who were named in two indictments related to the killings, brawl and shooting that damaged a church and home in the Crisler Street community.

Eleven of the 13 defendants, including Miller, were indicted for their alleged affiliation with the Bloods, the infamous street gang based in California. All defendants are accused of being involved in three events occurring within a month.

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These incidents began when two opposing groups got into a physical altercation in the middle of Crisler Street near Burge Park on June 24, 2017. The following evening, Canton police officers and Cherokee sheriff's deputies responded to a shots fired call in the same area of the brawl. One shooting victim, William Kendrick Randall, was found dead at the scene while the other, Tony Lamar Samples, was found shot to death inside a vehicle on North Street. That vehicle, the Cherokee County District Attorney's Office previously said, belonged to fellow defendant Jeremy Zellous.

Roughly two weeks later, officers responded to another call of shots fired towards the Iglesia Pentecostes El Faro church at 385 Crisler Street and a home where witnesses to the double shooting lived. The Canton Police Department initially announced the arrest of five individuals connected to the shooting, but the indictment pointed to a larger network of organized crime that resulted in local officials getting the help of the FBI Northwest Georgia Criminal Enterprise Task Force.

Arraignment for the 13 defendants is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 8 at the Cherokee County Justice Center in Canton.

Photo: Bryson Miller. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff's Office