by Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
Carrboro Police have arrested and charged three individuals in connection with a recent string of armed robberies in Carrboro and Chapel Hill that appear to have targeted Latino victims.
According to the Carrboro Police Department, Lavarus Deleon Atwater, 16, of Cedar Lake Road in Chatham County; George Lavon Gattis Jr., 17, of Hill Street in Carrboro; and Kimberly Carol Sue Nicholson, 18, of Thomas Burke Drive in Hillsborough have each been charged with two counts of armed robbery and one count of conspiracy.
They are accused of robbing a Latino family at Royal Park Apartments on April 11.
According to police, Atwater has also been charged with two counts of assault because he pointed a pistol at one of the victims and his 6-year-old child. In addition, Gattis was charged with assault inflicting serious injury because he grabbed one of the victim’s purses and pulled it away, bruising and spraining her finger.
Gattis and Atwater are also charged with armed robbery and conspiracy in connection with two robberies at Estes Park Apartments on April 5. According to police, one of the suspects shot a man in the back of the leg and threatened another man with pepper spray before robbing them.
According to Captain J.G. Booker, police investigations have indicated that those charged are connected with a larger group.
“It’s one main, big group, but different pairs of two that are going out,†Booker said.
The robberies began at the end of January and have become more frequent in recent weeks. According to police, most of the robberies involved young black men approaching Latino victims in apartment complex parking lots and displaying a weapon.
Other recent robberies have occurred at Kingswood Apartments on Highway 54 Bypass, Pinegate Apartments on Pinegate Circle and Kings Arms Apartments on Ephesus Church Road.