The homeless man killed in a shootout with Richmond County officers and suspected of shooting a deputy had been stockpiling stolen historic plaques and other items from churches and other buildings.
Duterval Sejour, 36, was living in a camp he set up behind a closed building on Ellis Street. After the shootout on Saturday that left Deputy Kenneth Mercer with a neck wound, the owner of the building, Eddie Stevens, went by to clean up the scene.
He found 75 to 100 plaques and other “architectural” items, including a sword handle from a statue, he said.
“There were a lot of suitcases and inside a lot of the suitcases, he had been going around the city and pulling plaques and other items, wrapping them in different clothing articles and plastic and storing them,” he said.
Three SUVs and a golf cart were needed to remove all of the items, one of which took four men to load, he said. The items appear in good shape, and the owners are being contacted, he said. The only items that weren’t able to be identified appear to be a set of brass sled rails from a nativity scene.
The stolen plaques included ones for the East Central Georgia Regional Library, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, The Southern Baptist Convention site and the Grover C. Maxwell building.
The items were being kept behind the building in an area enclosed by a gate. Sejour had cut the lock on the gate but would put the chain back up behind him, making it look as though no one had broken it. He had previously been arrested twice in April for criminal trespassing and for looking into cars.
Richmond County Sheriff spokesman John Perry said he couldn’t comment on the situation due to the ongoing shooting investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
A nearby local businessman, who owns 13 properties downtown, was the first to notice a man coming and going from the area after noticing his security cameras had been disabled.
While churches and food banks are helping the homeless, more needs to be done, said the businessman, who asked that his name not be used.
“It’s a very bad situation,” he said. “I would guess he’s not in his complete right mind. I’m sick of nothing being done to help them.”
At another one of his downtown properties, the businessman is having trees removed so homeless people will stop hiding in them, he said.
“I didn’t care that they were there except they were dumping trash,” he said. “And then it’s my responsibility to go and pick up the broken chairs and beds.”
The panhandling downtown hurts businesses drastically, he said.
“Business owners need to do a better job of not removing homeless people, but keeping properties clean so they’re not a desirable place,” he said. “I’m going to dig deep in helping make this a better situation. We’re never going to completely eliminate the problem, but we’ve got to do better.”
The building that Sejour lived behind has been on sale for about two years. It was under contract, but the sale fell through about a month ago, said Matt Aiken, a commercial real estate agent for Sherman and Hemstreet.
“The gate has a screen part on it so you can’t see back there so no one knew anyone was back there,” he said.
Stevens said he spent 16 hours on Monday cleaning the area and is getting a full camera system installed. He’s also going to motorize the gate so it can only be opened with a code and each time it’s opened, he will get an alert, he said.
“If they’re trying to get people downtown, people aren’t going to come unless they feel safe,” Stevens said. “I feel for those without a job. I don’t want them to go to jail. But it needs to be cleaned up.”
