COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) – Columbus police told a Recorder’s Court judge that the home invasion that left a 21-year-old man dead was the result of a street gang that is known to target drug dealers.

Police say a large quantity of marijuana and an undetermined amount of cash were stolen in the Upatoi home invasion that left Cross Henderson dead earlier this month.

That came out Tuesday morning as six suspects face murder charges in the Jan. 18 shooting death of Henderson at his mother’s home in the upscale Upatoi Ridge subdivision.

Ce’uion English, 23, Laqwane Kindred, 26, Anthony Foster, 23, Trevonius Williams, 22, Mercedes Kraft, 17, and an unnamed juvenile girl were all charged with murder.

Police say the suspects belonged to the FNG street gang.

“We have had multiple murders of FNG members attempting to rob drug dealers,” Detective Sherman Hayes told Judge Julius Hunter.

FNG stands for Finesse Gang, the detective.

Police told of how five of the suspects — three men and the two teenagers — ambushed a gathering at the home just after midnight. They came in from a woodline as many of those at the house were gathered on a porch.

The intruders were armed with multiple weapons, including “an AK-47 style weapon,” according to Hayes. The suspects had T-shirts tied around their heads, obscuring their identity. Henderson was taken upstairs at gunpoint and five of his friends were ordered to go face down in the living room. Henderson screamed at his mother, Autumn Tillery, to call 911. He was shot one time in the back and later died from the wound.

The friends were told not to look up and when they did they were punched, kicked and pistol-whipped. One of them suffered a severe gash when he was hit with the butt end of a gun.
Throughout the robbery, the suspects were yelling “Give it up,” the detective testified.

Tillery described the marijuana and how it was packaged to detectives.

Police say this is not the first time the Tillery home was targeted.

The had been previously robbed and it was not reported to authorities, police say. Some of those facing the murder charges may have been involved in the previous robbery, police say.

The dead man’s mother has not been charged with any crimes. English’s defense attorney Jennifer Curry asked if police were investigating Tillery. The prosecution objected and the judge sustained.

Detective Hayes would only say that was an ongoing investigation.

All six suspects have had their cases bound to Superior Court with their bond revoked. The bond for all six will be set by a Superior Court judge.