A test of friendship
November 2, 2006
Two University students were arrested early Wednesday after they pulled a Halloween prank by staging an armed robbery at Old Athens Cemetery, police said.
University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said Richard Gerard Donnellan and Rajesh Chandarkant Joshi used an airsoft gun, a spring powered gun that shoots plastic pellets, to rob people they know of their wallets and cash at the cemetery on Jackson Street.
“Someone thought it would be funny, but they did not think of how serious this would be,” he said.
An acquaintance present called 911 and told the operator that his friends were being robbed at gun point by two men wearing hoods at about 12:24 a.m., said Williamson who has heard a tape of the call.
He said the man believed the prank and sounded scared.
University Police arrived on the scene and discovered that Donnellan and Joshi had staged the incident and were using a fake gun.
Williamson said the students had spray painted black the florescent orange tip of the gun that is used to distinguish that it is not real.
Police arrested Donnellan and Joshi were charged with possession of a weapon on school property. Donnellan was also charged with possession of a fake ID and reckless conduct. Joshi was also charged with disorderly conduct.
The students returned the wallets they took and will not be charged with armed robbery, Williamson said.
“While many may think things are funny, in today’s climate the same thing scares people,” he said.
Williamson said the case is still under investigation, but nine witnesses have given police statements of their accounts.
Airsoft guns can shoot 100 to 550 feet per second and can punchure the skin.
Georgia law has “zero tolerance” for possession of a weapon on or within 1,000 feet of any school-owned property.
This law includes contraptions “designed to propel a missile of any kind.”
The moral of this story was told in my last entry. I’m just trying to figure out if Donnellan and Joshi are truly “friends” with the students they scared in the cemetery that night. Let’s talk about loyalty and trust.
— Juanita
jcousins@randb.com
