Live from WXIA-TV in Atlanta, you are watching 11 Alive News at 6.
Atlanta offers a second honeymoon to a couple whose first trip hit a major snag at Hartsfield
Airport.
Plus, there's plenty of finger pointing after a major main break on Piedmont.
Now, some leaders are suggesting a temporary halt to underground digging, and police announced
an arrest in the murder of a pizza manager a month ago.
Good evening, and welcome to 11 Alive News at 6.
I'm Karen Greer in for Brenda Wood.
And I'm Wes Sargentsen.
Tonight, a 20-year-old man is in custody charged with killing 25-year-old Monica Tuttle.
The Papa John's night manager was shot to death shortly after closing the Sandy Springs
store on Roswell Road last month.
11 Alive's Kevin Rosen talked with police today.
Kevin, did the investigators reveal a motive in this case?
Not specifically, Wes, but they have given us an indication.
20-year-old Carlos Gibbs was charged with murder after being questioned here at the
Fulton Industrial Precinct.
Fulton County Police tell me tonight that he is a former employee of the pizzeria in Sandy
Springs and was recently fired by Monica Tuttle, the pizzeria manager.
The body of 25-year-old Monica Tuttle was found June 18th near a trash dumpster outside
the Papa John's pizzeria she managed.
Police say a security camera shows Tuttle walking out of the pizzeria carrying a bag
in her hands after locking up.
If someone approached her, it was out of the camera's view.
Police originally said that may have been something her killer knew.
20-year-old Carlos Gibbs is now charged with her murder.
He is a former employee, a suspect from the beginning, according to police.
But it wasn't until almost a month later, after he was brought in for questioning, that
police finally had enough to charge him with murder.
Once we contacted Mr. Gibbs, took him into custody, brought him out here, of course,
we were able to get the information from him, which has now implicated him in the homicide.
Chief Mulkey fell short of calling it a confession, but did say that he told them enough to charge
him.
There may be more charges against Gibbs.
The police are still trying to find out from Papa John's whether any money was taken from
the pizzeria.
I remember Monica Tuttle was carrying a bag out of the pizzeria at the time that she was
killed, and police still have not found that bag.
Reporting live at the Fulton Industrial Precinct, I'm Kevin Rosen for 11 Live News.
A 16-year-old suspect in the murder of an Atlanta police officer had his case bound
over to a Fulton County grand jury today.
Investigators say Leslie Singleton stole the gun used to kill off-duty Sergeant Melvin
Grigley.
They believe the shots that killed the officer were fired by another suspect, 17-year-old
Michael Waters.
A third suspect, 17-year-old David Murez, is also charged in the case.
Lawrenceville police say two officers followed proper procedures as they subdued a chase
suspect Wednesday afternoon.
Some critics called the incident police brutality, but police say it was merely an effort to
get the suspect to place his right arm behind his back.
11 Live's Valerie Hoff joins us now with details from Lawrenceville.
Valerie, still a lot of unanswered questions.
Yes.
Karen, police say that what may have looked to some like Marshall started being punched
and kicked by police was actually normal police procedure aimed at immobilizing and restraining
a struggling suspect.
From one end of the spectrum to the other, I mean, I've heard everything from, you know,
it was another Rodney King to these police officers all to be the president of the United
States.
Lawrenceville police chief Randy Johnson says Wednesday's chase generated plenty of
public comment, but most was in support of the officers.
I can understand a little bit what some of the citizens were upset about by not knowing
exactly what these officers were doing, but in fact what they were doing was something
that they were trained to do.
He released new police video of the chase.
Here officers try to box Marshall stuttered in.
Stuttered then crashes and keeps going until he breaks down and officers surround him.
These are the scenes that upset some people, so two defense tactic instructors demonstrated
the techniques used.
The first targets a nerve in the leg to immobilize the suspect.
It's a large group of nerves right here on that muscle.
If you come in with your knee, you're striking right here.
Since stuttered continued to struggle, they switched tactics, here using a fist to the
forearm to numb the funny bone.
We don't hold back.
We try to hit it absolutely as hard as we can.
If you come down here right here on top of the radial nerve, that's where officer felt
it was striking.
Now police also revealed that stuttered blood alcohol level was 1.3 percent five hours after
his arrest, so of course well over the legal limit.
He remains in the Gwinnett County jail tonight under a suicide watch.
Reporting live from Lawrenceville, Valerie Hoff, 11 Alive News.
Georgia's Secretary of State expects about 25 percent of the voters will turn out for
the primary on Tuesday.
What may be higher in DeKalb County, voters there will be choosing the person to lead
them for the next four years.
The DeKalb CEO candidates are Porter Sanford, Steen Miles, Vernon Jones, and Ken Davis.
11 Alive's John Sherrick continues our coverage with a look at Miles and Jones.
There are hot local contests all across Georgia.
None will have more of an impact on this state than the next DeKalb County CEO.
The winner will help lead Metro Atlanta through some of the toughest decisions ever facing
this region.
You know, we don't get too many of them, but on the Dr. Joyce show.
We caught up with CEO candidate Steen Miles fielding questions on Dr. Joyce's talk show
on WGUN-AM.
I'm the only candidate that has corporate management experience.
And that makes a difference.
Absolutely, because the job of CEO is managing county government.
And Miles is a journalist who spent nearly 20 years with 11 Alive News before resigning
to run on a deep and extensive record of community involvement in DeKalb.
The veteran politicians in the race, Miles says, are part of DeKalb's problem.
I don't have the baggage.
I have not been in politics before.
And people, I think, want honest, ethical leadership and open door policy.
None of the backing deals anymore.
I think people are very, very wary of that.
State Representative Vernon Jones speaks of promoting smart growth for DeKalb and pushing
for more efficient government and strengthening public safety, especially DeKalb EMS.
If something were to happen in your home right now, and you don't have 20 minutes to live,
you could lose your life because they're understaffed, they're underpaid, they're overworked.
The latest campaign disclosures show Vernon Jones has raised the most money of all four
candidates, $274,000.
Steen Miles shows $27,000 in contributions, and she tells me that recent donations have
doubled that amount.
Again, all four candidates are Democrats.
No Republicans are running, so Tuesday's primary, and possibly the runoff on August 8th, will
determine who will lead DeKalb County for the next four years.
Wes.
Thank you, John.
Watch 11 on live news for election results next Tuesday.
We'll bring you results from all the major races, including DeKalb CEO and Bob Barr's
congressional seat.
There is new relief in sight for frustrated drivers and business owners along Piedmont
Road and Buckhead.
But as utility and street repairs come to an end, the probe into what went wrong is
just beginning.
Tonight, new information about who might share the blame for what happened in the debut of
a new segment here on 11 on live, the investigators.
Jennifer Leslie joins us from Buckhead with more.
Good evening, Jennifer.
Good evening, Karen.
The contractors who were digging out here say they tried to avoid all of this by steering
clear of the underground utility lines, but they say those lines were not clearly marked.
The utility companies say that's not the case.
They're not responsible for blocking traffic and business here for days now.
I love this sandwich.
Lunchtime at Eclipsa Luna is painfully slow for owner James Ehrlich.
Usually it would be full by now.
Over the past week, he's lost thousands of dollars in business because customers simply
can't find their way here.
What do you want?
It's been awful.
It's very stressful.
The road to Ehrlich's restaurant in Miami Circle became a maze of the orange cones and
detour signs on Sunday.
That's when a contractor accidentally cut into water and gas lines while trying to install
casings for fiber optic cables.
The leaking water washed out the street's foundation and Piedmont Road had to be shut
down.
So who's to blame for this mess that's costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair?
The city, state, and utility companies are conducting their own investigations, but finding
faults and preventing these pricing mistakes elsewhere may not be so easy.
The two contractors on the job say they did nothing wrong.
Al Morris, the project manager, declined an on-camera interview, but he gave us these
photos taken the day after the water and gas lines were cut.
He says they show the lines were not marked properly ahead of time with blue and yellow
spray paint.
Even though he gave proper notice, he'd be working at the site.
Officials with Atlanta Gaslight and United Water insist their lines were indeed properly
marked.
I'm investigating that myself.
Atlanta's acting director of public works, Norman Copeland, is taking a close look at
the contractors' claims and their history.
One of the companies, B&O Boring, ran into trouble in late June in Sandy Springs.
A worker there struck a Bell South phone line, knocking out service to about 2,400 customers
for a week.
The other company, Morris Humming, cut through a water line two weeks ago in the same stretch
of Piedmont Road where the latest ruptures happened.
If there are damages that the city can collect on, I shall do so.
This massive, costly cleanup job has raised new concerns among Atlanta City council members.
They're considering limits or perhaps a short-term moratorium on underground digging so they
can develop new control.
This is, to me, a crisis of quality of life here in this town.
We have a beautiful town and we cannot give people a license to furrow through our streets
at will.
Without careful oversight, mistakes can be costly.
Hopefully this will be a wake-up call.
The city and state officials say they'll do whatever they can to recover the money they've
spent on repairs so that taxpayers won't be stuck with the bills.
United Water is also offering to cover the claims of the businesses affected.
Live in Buckhead, Jennifer Leslie, 11 Live News.
Interesting pictures, Jennifer, with so much new construction and new technology that seems
to be happening in every community.
Yeah, this certainly isn't an isolated case and in some instances these ruptures are happening
more and more often at record levels even.
All right, Jennifer Leslie, thank you.
Water woes of another kind, bad storms in the northeast are plaguing Delta today.
Delta reports cancellations and long delays due to the weather.
You can call 1-800-325-1999 for flight updates or go to 11Alive.com for a link to Delta's
web page.
And as for us, well, the rain has cleared out for the weekend.
We still need a lot of rain here.
If only the heat would go away though.
Paul Hosman has our First Alert forecast.
Heat is going to be with us, unfortunately, and the lack of rain, unfortunately, too.
I want to show you what's also happening across the northeast.
We just mentioned about the flight delays.
Severe thunderstorm watches posted in parts of Michigan, also in Ohio, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania.
Good band of showers and thunderstorms in hubs like Philadelphia, also into Newark
right now and also into Washington, D.C.
We can see all the shower and thunderstorm activity to our north and to our south, but
across north Alabama, north Georgia, high and dry.
So here's our forecast for this evening.
We're going to get partly cloudy skies, 86, by tomorrow morning, 73, and by noon, a temperature
near 90 degrees, 87 degrees.
We'll have more of that weekend forecast coming up in a few minutes, Karen.
All right, thanks, Paul.
Activity on the sun flares up.
Find out how that could affect us on Earth coming up.
Plus, later in sports, they have a need for speed Indy cars come to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
And next, Atlanta tries to erase the negative first impression it left with a newlywed couple.
We'll be right back.
You may remember this next story, the honeymooners from Arkansas who were just changing planes
in Atlanta when they found a gun in their carry on and were arrested.
Well, they're back today because of the kindness of Metro Atlanta.
Today, they started their second honeymoon just one month after the first.
Allison and Jason walked off the plane today at Hartsfield to flashing cameras and media.
It's nice to be back, I think.
I think.
A much better time.
Allison says she's told the story maybe 20,000 times, and it still amazes her.
Her nightmare started when she borrowed a bag from her parents to pack for her honeymoon.
I grabbed one of my parents' bags thinking, well, theirs is empty, so this will be the
easiest.
And I started throwing my stuff in the bag.
It looked empty.
I didn't, like, search it, but it looked empty, and so I, you know, went to the airport the
next morning, went through security, everything was fine, got to the Atlanta airport, and
I was digging through my bag at our gate, and I was like, oh my God, there's a gun in
my bag.
Not knowing what to do, the police officer called a Clayton County judge to get an arrest
warrant.
Allison was arrested and spent her wedding night behind bars.
I'm from Little Town, so this is pretty crazy.
Of course, in the end, everyone realized it was all an innocent mistake, but not before
the happy couple separated for their first night of what was to be wedded blitz.
So today, a local radio station tried to make up for the mistake and flew the couple back
to Atlanta for three nights at the Four Seasons Hotel, all meals paid for, and a helicopter
tour as just a few of the donated prizes.
We did everything on those lists.
We'd be here for, you know, three months, but just the things that we're actually doing
while we're here is like $18,000.
Need to mention, talk show host Neil Bortz is responsible for getting them back here.
Allison says she did get a letter of clearance from the FAA saying it would not press charges,
but still no apology from city officials or the police officer who arrested her.
A huge solar flare could disrupt life on earth the next couple of days.
The massive solar eruption Wednesday morning sent electrified gas hurling toward the earth
at more than two million miles an hour.
Now that sounds frightening, but the extent of its effect on earth will likely be interference
with radio communications.
Northern latitudes may get a vivid show of the northern lights, but they will be very
difficult to see this far south.
And how will that affect us, if at all?
I didn't have it in the forecast.
No, you did.
You feel bad about solar flares not in the forecast.
Remember it was last year, the year before, when it happened, when everyone's beepers
and you couldn't use it?
It's just kind of a scary thought that that can happen, but that just shows you the mother
nature and what happens in our atmosphere sometimes can play tricks on us, just like
what we're having right now with the dry weather, and the dry weather will continue, at least
for the next few days, with temperatures are still going to average right around 92 to
94, maybe 95 degrees around the metro area for tomorrow.
It should be a little bit cooler as we head to the weekend, but cooler is a relative term
this time of year.
Let's see what's happening outside right now.
Still 93 degrees, 31 percent humidity.
Winds are out the northwest now at 13, and the pressure's at 29, 85, and falling.
Today's high temperature, 94, morning low of 76.
The normals for this time of year for keeping track, 88 and 69, we were four degrees away
from a record high setback in 1954, and the record low in 1976 of 59 degrees.
The heat is the big story for today, and the lack of rain.
Montgomery is 100 degrees right now.
They were 99 last hour, 99 in Columbus, 89 in Macon, some thunderstorms there earlier
kept temperatures down in the 70s, now back up to 89, 93 in Atlanta, 93 also in Athens.
When you add the humidity, very little humidity across north Georgia, 94 it feels like here,
now 109 in Albany, 101 in Valdosta, 103 now in Birmingham, and it feels like 97 degrees
in the Huntsville area.
Across the southeast, most of the shower activity to the south.
South, even a line from Macon.
We saw a pop-up shower in Polk County and also in Harrelson County that has now weakened
and moved out.
We're looking at scattered showers mostly to the south, and I think the scenario also
for tomorrow, according to this precision cast, will be to keep the rain well away from
us.
As you can see, by tomorrow morning, right around 11 o'clock, the rain will be mostly
leaked along the coast, near Savannah, and also the coastal regions of north and south
Carolina and well away from north Georgia, most of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
So we anticipate a pretty dry weekend as we head even into Monday, maybe a chance of showers
developing for Tuesday.
But in the meantime, temperatures, because a little bit drier air moving in, into the
60s across much of north Georgia, right around 70 to 72 across the metro area, and high temperatures
tomorrow 90.
But look what's out to our west, temperatures in the hundreds in northern Louisiana, parts
of Arkansas, and also 100 degree readings in Alabama and the panhandle of Florida, going
to be a hot one.
Here's our forecast for tonight.
We're looking at temperatures right around 73 degrees, they're mostly clear skies to
partly cloudy skies.
By tomorrow, we're looking at temperature right around 92 to 93 degrees for high temperature.
For tomorrow, maybe some 95s around there as well.
It's another hot day, continue hot for Sunday and 91.
Monday and Tuesday, increasing clouds, temperatures right around 91, 92 degrees, reintroducing
that chance of an isolated thunderstorm for Tuesday and Wednesday highs near 90, low temperatures
73 degrees.
So temperatures in the 90s for the next several days, maybe in the mid-90s for tomorrow.
All right, Paul, thank you.
Well, gentlemen, start your engines.
The Indy cars roll into town.
Also, it's the first day of Falcons training, and everybody wants to know, is Jamal Anderson
ready to play?
And Fred probably has the answers, right, Fred?
Well, Sam's going to have the answer, but I certainly want to know if Jam is ready for
the Falcons.
We'll have that and more live from the Atlanta Motor Speedway coming up next.
On 11 Alive News at 6.
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I grew up hiking, swimming, and fishing here.
I want other generations to grow up the same way.
Commission Chairman Wayne Hill, he cut rezoning requests by 20% to slow growth, protected
more land from development than the rest of Metro Atlanta combined, and is building the
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This is a great place to live.
I'm Wayne Hill, and it's my job to keep it that way.
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There will be huge crowds at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Fred is already there.
Well, they're hoping for some crowds here at the Atlanta Motor Speedway to see the IRL
Midas 500 Classic tomorrow night here at this beautiful track down in Hampton, Georgia.
Let's talk about the Falcons right now.
The big question, Jamal Anderson, Sam Crenshaw, is live in Greenville, South Carolina.
Sam, did we see jam today?
Indeed, we did see jam worked out today.
Fred, before practice got started this morning, Coach Dan Reeves says he wanted to see a physical
workout in training camp, and that's just what he saw.
We show you some of the highlights from practice today and watch Jamal Anderson look for football
and watch him move in a way that we used to see him do.
A little bump on Ashley Ambrose, and Keith Brooken comes up and gives Jamal a little bump
at the end right there.
He got up just fine, and that's what Coach Reeves wants to see.
See Ray McAnon, looks like he's a mid-season woman, a great defensive player, but by far
everybody wanted to watch Jamal Anderson, and today he had these thoughts after this
workout.
Yeah, you know, I have a little bit of soreness, but that's something that we anticipated,
but it's not a tinder knighted situation, so so far so good.
I get in a cold tub.
I just want to get out there and mix it up a little bit, bring some excitement back here.
I saw him take some licks, I saw him cutting, and the fact that he was able to do it without
any pain is a huge improvement over where he was two or three weeks ago.
So Fred, to answer your question, so far so good for Jam, two a day, start tomorrow.
For the immediate future, Jam will go once a day.
Okay, Sam, you know those guys are always afraid to tackle Jamal with those tree trunk
legs.
Somebody tried to go up high, and he knocked him down.
He's ready.
Yeah, that was Ashley Ambrose.
That was Ashley Ambrose.
He found out quick.
Yeah, welcome to Atlanta, Ashley.
All right, Sam Crenshaw, live in Greenville, South Carolina.
Let's talk about the Braves now.
They're in Baltimore for the second game of their series against the Orioles.
After Bobby Cox will begin serving his suspension tonight, Bobby suspended five games for pumping
the umpire on the 4th of July, and the Braves won their game last night.
Tonight, we'll get our first look at Andy Ashby.
Ashby starting for the Braves tonight, and we'll have highlights of this game tonight
at 11 o'clock.
All right, Robbie Buell.
Come on in here, Robbie.
How are you?
Great.
Great to see you.
We have four cars as we get ready for the Indy Racing League's Midas 500 Classic, and
talk about driving here at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and those open-wheel racers.
Wow, this is a great visual out here while outside of turn two.
It's really an awesome place, and I think you're going to see some great racing, so
hopefully we'll get a good crowd out here.
You're going to see good side-by-side racing at an average speed of 213, 14 miles an hour,
and hopefully we'll be at the front of that with a Purex car.
You're going to run for the poll tonight beginning at 7 o'clock.
What do you think it's going to take to get on the poll here?
Well, it's one thing that's really hard to get a gauge is when you'll see times that
guys have posted or speeds guys have posted at this point is who's gotten a draft, who's
been towed around this place.
So it's kind of a guessing game, but I think we'll probably see some guys at 212 for the
poll.
You know, I know that the Indy Racing League is a fledgling league right now, but I know
that you're trying to be in step with NASCAR.
You know, you're driving the stock block type engines and trying to be in step with the
very popular series, NASCAR.
Yeah, no, I think right now the, you know, the IRL and how far it's come and this year
with having Northern Light as a title sponsor and this year the racing has been just spectacular
and if anybody saw the Texas race, which is a similar track configuration to here, we
had a great, I mean, there was 12 guys going for the lead for 35 laps straight.
So if that means anything, I think we'll see that here in Atlanta and then some, because
I think you can actually probably get three abreast here.
I don't know if I want to participate in the middle of it, baby.
Come on, Robbie.
Thanks for being all with us.
You see right here, it says racing for kids and tomorrow night, kids half price here at
Atlanta Motor Speedway to see this race.
So come on out.
It'd be a great night for the family.
We're live at AMS.
We'll see you at 11.
Thank you, Fred.
All right.
And that's 11 live news at six.
Thank you very much for joining us.
NBC Nightly News is next.
We'll see you back here at 11.
Have a great evening, everybody.