UPDATE (3:00 p.m.):
The second suspect charged with killing Cartersville resident and Canton native Randall "R.J." Statler during the commission of a robbery has no criminal history, CPD Capt. Mark Camp said.
But Richard Clayton Flowers Jr., 17, of Cartersville, also has been charged in connection with an alleged purse snatching the day Statler was killed, which happened not far from the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive car wash.
Camp said Flowers is accused of snatching a woman's purse as she shopped at the Dollar General in Market Square shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 16, 2012. Statler is believed to have been shot once in the head about 8 p.m., less than eight hours later.
The woman, a 40-year-old Cartersville resident, said the purse snatcher, who had chin-length dreds, was "walking around the store looking suspicious," then took her purse and ran to the front of the store, according to the incident report, attached.
She and employees chased him behind the stores in nearby Cartersville Plaza, where he dropped the purse, and continued running toward Johnson Street. Nothing was missing from the purse.
Police have security footage of the alleged robbery at Dollar General. Flowers faces an armed robbery charged in connection with the incident.
In connection with Statler's death, Flowers faces felony murder and armed robbery charges, Camp said.
ORIGINAL STORY: Cartersville police have arrested and a charged a second suspect in connection with the alleged robbery and killing of Canton native R.J. Statler, 28, at Sun Glo car wash in December.
Authorities just released this statement:
Chief Thomas N. Culpepper of the Cartersville Police Department announced this afternoon that a second suspect wanted in connection with the December 16, 2012, murder of Randall “RJ” Statler turned himself in at the Bartow County Jail earlier this afternoon. The suspect was accompanied by his father.
The second suspect is identified as Richard Clayton Flowers Jr., age 17, of Cartersville. Flowers has been charged with murder and two counts of armed Robbery. One armed robbery count stems from an (alleged) theft earlier in the day on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012.
Flowers had just recently become the second suspect in the case. The first suspect, Brettney Anwarr Moore of Cartersville was arrested on May 8, 2013.
The investigation is continuing.
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