Georgia Teens Denied Bail in Beating Death

"Senseless" is how authorities are describing the death of Bobby Tillman. 


                        Bobby Tillman murder suspects
The Georgia teenager was killed after four teenagers allegedly attacked him for no reason outside a Atlanta house party. One of the teenagers allegedly told his three friends that he would hit the next person that walked by. Bobby Tillman soon passed the boys, who all joined the attack, stomping and beating Tillman. Four teenagers Horace Coleman, 19, Emanuel Boykins, 18, Quantez Mallory, 18 and Tracen Franklin, 19, face murder charges.

Police were called to the scene early Sunday morning after reports of a fight outside a party. Police arrested the four boys and held 57 witnesses for questioning. A judge has denied all four teenagers bail. According to Sheriff Phil Miller, the attack on Tillman, who was 5 foot 6, 125 pounds, was unprovoked. "[T]hey beat him up and stomped him and killed him," Miller said.

One witness is Ed Stephens, who lives nearby and saw the attack through his bedroom window. "I just thought he was hurt. I never thought that his life was ending," he said.

So why would a person randomly decide to attack the next person to walk by? According to the Associated Press, a woman standing outside the party hit one of the four teenagers, and he refused to hit the woman. Instead, he said he would hit the next man to walk by. Unfortunately that's about as much sense as we're probably going to get from this case.

The party apparently began with a small group of about 10 high school friends, but grew to 80 people or more after word got out about the party. At some point, the mother told everyone to leave but the party spilled out into the yard and the street, which led to the fight. So far, police have not found any evidence that alcohol or drugs were being served and the mother is not expected to face charges. If the mother had been serving intoxicants or allowing their use, she could have faced charges including contributing to the delinquency of a minor as well as social host liability.
 
David McDade, Douglas County District Attorney, said he did not know whether he would seek the death penalty, but he said that there was little point in seeking any answers: "This is an absolutely unprovoked, senseless killing by young people killing another young man for no reason, no motive."

By Jason Beahm