Atlanta man sentenced to life in prison in connection with 'stupid' Dollar General robbery

A man linked to a failed Dollar General robbery has learned his fate.

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A Spalding County jury took less than 15 minutes to find 24-year-old Jerico Bernard Williams guilty of one count of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole plus twenty years.

The verdict came after Williams, Tierra Davis, 28, and Demarcus Timmons, 22, all of Atlanta, and a fourth suspect who has not yet been arrested, went to a Dollar General on Jackson Road in Griffin to commit an armed robbery.

The incident occurred on June 4, 2023.

According to Spalding County officials, Davis drove the getaway car, Timmons acted as a guard, while the fourth suspect grabbed the cashier and forced her to open the cash register.

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The Spalding County District Attorney's Office said Williams pointed a gun at a mother and her children who were at the cash register and then held the victim at gunpoint until his friend got the money from the register.

The robbery was captured on store surveillance video. Officers say no shots were fired during the robbery.

A concerned citizen saw the three suspects enter the store and drive away in the getaway car. She was key to solving the case because she was able to report the suspects' vehicle to 911.

A Locust Grove police officer eventually spotted the car and attempted to stop it. The car then turned into a driveway and two of the occupants ran into a nearby wooded area.

Three suspects were later arrested. One suspect has not yet been arrested.

“We will not tolerate violent crimes against innocent citizens in Spalding County or the Griffin Judicial Circuit,” said District Attorney Marie Broder.

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Williams was previously sentenced in Fulton County in October 2018 to seven years in prison and six years of probation after incarceration for aircraft hijacking, two counts of armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon.

Davis is charged with armed robbery and driving without a license. Timmons is charged with armed robbery, false imprisonment and kidnapping.

Davis and Timmons are awaiting trial.

“There are a lot of people around here who are armed if they have to go out at this time of night. I don't know how these guys do it in Atlanta, but robbing a store around here at this time of night with customers in it is a foolish attempt. The suspects were lucky that they had the opportunity to be caught and not the opportunity to be autopsied,” said Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix.

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