Man Arrested For Stabbing, Killing 2 In Downtown Decatur

DECATUR, GA — DeKalb County Police have arrested a man and charged him with murder in the stabbing deaths of two people, a grown man and a 14-year-old girl, in downtown Decatur on Sunday.

Royce Alex Stewart, 36, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of theft by taking in the incident at Trinity Walk Apartments. Stewart was arrested near Mercer Woods subdivision in southeast DeKalb County, according to police.

According to DeKalb Police, officers had chased Stewart for several hours, first in a car chase and then on foot. Officers from Decatur Police Departent, the DeKalb Marshals' Office, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Marshals service assisted in the chase.

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At about 9:35 a.m. Sunday, Decatur Police were called to the apartments, in the 400 block of West Trinity Place. Inside an apartment there, they found 14-year-old Shykia Ward-Reese and a man who has not been publicly identified suffering from stab wounds.

Stewart also is charged with stealing a 2014 Ford Mustang, but police say that happened in a separate incident. Police have not publicly released what they believe was the motive for the stabbings.

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