Gang Member Convicted Of Murdering Student In Sandy Springs

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — A Fulton County jury has convicted a 24-year-old man of murder in the 2016 shooting death of a Clark Atlanta University student in Sandy Springs.

Devin Kingdom was convicted on charges of felony murder, murder, home invasion in the first degree, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery, burglary in the first degree and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years, the Fulton County District Attorney's Office said.

The Sandy Springs Police Department's case began when officers were dispatched around 3 a.m. Nov. 25 2016, to the 100 block of North River Drive and found Ford, 25, deceased and another man, Tyrique Lobban, injured.

According to the DA's office, several gang members from New York relocated to the Atlanta area in spring 2014. The group included Lobban, Kingdom, Joseph Clarke, Malik Ortiz, Gregory Battle and Jabar Brady. Upon their transition to the Atlanta area, Clark, Ortiz, Battle and Brady all moved in with Lobban at his Sandy Springs apartment.

Prosecutors state "internal problems" began to develop within the group, which led to a leadership struggle in the gang. The beef, the DA's office said, centered around who should "lead and control the gang." The dispute came to a head when Lobban asked Clark, Ortiz and Battle to move out of his Sandy Springs apartment unit.

"Once they moved out of the apartment, the men made a decision to kill Lobban and remove him from his leadership position in the gang," the District Attorney's office notes.

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On Nov. 25, 2016, more than a month after they were told to move out, Clark, Kingdom, Ortiz and Battle executed their plan to kill Lobban. They entered the apartment through an unlocked door "with weapons drawn and ready to fire," prosecutors said.

In a downstairs bedroom, they found Lobban’s roommate, Brady, and told him to leave or he would face the same fatal consequences. Kingdom and Clarke kicked in the door of an upstairs bedroom and found Lobban and his girlfriend, Cierra Ford, lying in a bed. The men entered the room and shot Ford in the head with a shotgun. Lobban was shot three times by the group, but he survived the shooting.

Kingdom and Ortiz were tried before a Fulton County Superior Court Jury last week. Although Kingdom was convicted of murder, the jury acquitted Ortiz of the homicide and was unable to reach verdicts on the other 12 counts. Along with Ford's murder, Brady, a key witness in the case, committed suicide in New York, the DA's office said.

U.S. Marshals arrested Clarke, Kingdom, and Ortiz on Dec. 6, 2016, at a home in Brevard County, Florida, but Battle remains on the run. Clarke will face a trial in Fulton County Superior Court at a later date.

Ford graduated from Berkeley High School in California in 2009 before earning her associate’s degree from Contra Costa Community College. She was enrolled as a junior at Clark Atlanta as a speech communications major. Ford’s brother, Clarence, said she excelled academically, and he believes his sister was an inspiration to other young women. Ford wanted to be a journalist or a radio host, and she had plans to intern for an Atlanta radio station.

“Cierra was intelligent, charismatic, and she had a vibrant sense of humor that resonated with her friends and family," Clarence Ford added.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly M. Esmond Adams presided over the case. Senior Assistant District Attorney Adam Abbate prosecuted the case. He was assisted by Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Seleta Griffin and Investigator Rasheed Hamilton of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. Detective J.T. Williams of the Sandy Springs Police Department was the lead investigator in the case.

Image via Clarence Ford