Back in March of 2021, 22-year-old Rico Abednego Neequaye Marley walked into a grocery market in Atlanta, Georgia wearing body armor and carrying two rifles in a bag (technically one AR-15 rifle and one 12 gauge shotgun) along with four more handguns inside of his clothing. Someone noticed the weaponry and alerted the authorities as the manager emptied the store while Marley was using the men’s room. The police arrived quickly and confronted Marley as he exited the restroom. He complied with their orders to drop his weapons and put his hands in the air. He was taken into custody and eventually charged with 11 counts of attempting to commit a felony and possession of a firearm while attempting to commit a felony.
Rico Marley was held without bond until February of 2022. At that time he was released and all the charges against him were dropped. Then he was arrested again in May after being indicted by a grand jury and hit with ten counts of reckless conduct, a misdemeanor. (Apparently, leaving his AR-15 leaning against the bathroom wall while he was in the stall was considered reckless abandonment of the firearm.) He was put back in jail and remained there until now.
This week, as the case approaches its conclusion, the Boston Globe is asking if Rico Marley should really be convicted and if he actually committed a crime. Marley, who is Black, never discharged any of his firearms or even pointed them at anyone. He didn’t resist arrest. Everything about his firearms carrying and possession was legal under Georgia law and he had purchased all of his firearms legally. To get to the bottom of this, let’s revisit some of the coverage of the incident from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from shortly after his arrest.
Rico Abednego Neequaye Marley faces 11 felonies after authorities said he walked into the Atlantic Station Publix on Wednesday afternoon armed to the teeth. He was arrested after a shopper spotted him with a rifle in the men’s restroom about 1:30 p.m. and alerted the store’s employees, Atlanta police said.
According to an incident report, Instacart shopper Charles Russell entered the restroom and heard “clicking sounds” coming from a bathroom stall.
“It sounded to him like someone was loading firearms,” the officer wrote in the report. “He also told me that he saw an AR-15 style rifle leaned against the wall. He rushed out of the restroom and notified the Publix staff.”
There are plenty more details at the link, but you’re likely getting a good idea of what happened if you hadn’t heard of the case before. So getting back to the underlying question, did Rico Marley actually commit a crime and should he be found guilty?
My first reaction is to say no to both questions. It’s true that people can become very nervous when a heavily armed person wearing body armor walks into a place where you might not expect to see such activity. The store manager was certainly justified to take precautions, but nothing came of the event.
But the more you read into the details at the link I provided, the more you might tend to have questions. All of Marley’s firearms were concealed, either in a bag or inside his clothing. Rather than shopping, he went straight to the men’s room where another patron heard a “clicking” sound that he recognized as rounds being loaded into a magazine. All of the firearms were fully loaded when the police inspected them. In addition to wearing body armor, he also brought along a ski mask in his bag when there was no inclement weather in the area.
Rico Marley may not have shot anyone, but he certainly took all of the actions that you would expect from someone who was about to start shooting. Why else would he feel the need to load his unloaded weapons in a grocery market? Why bring a ski mask? Why break out the previously concealed firearms when leaving the restroom? There would have been no need to hunt for his food in a grocery store.
When Marley emerged from the men’s room, the police said he seemed genuinely “surprised” to see a group of officers with their guns drawn. So what if he had come out of the bathroom and instead of seeing the police, he saw a normal crowd of shoppers going about their business in the store? The non-shooting incident could have turned into an active shooter situation in a matter of seconds. We can’t simply rule out the possibility (if not the probability) that Marley was planning to do exactly that until the police disrupted him.
And yet we’re supposed to judge people by their actions. Suspicions don’t amount to sufficient evidence or even intent to bring a conviction. I offer this case description as an opportunity for all of you to reach your own conclusions. The alternate story offered by Marley’s attorney as to why he did what he did really doesn’t make any sense to me or sound probable. But does that make him “guilty enough” to convict him on some charges anyway? It sounds very much like a tragedy was averted that day, but at the same time, I’m uncomfortable seeing him locked up for simply carrying. Are the police only allowed to act after someone starts shooting? Suffice it to say… it’s complicated.
