Cop Shop Blog

Georgia cops seek woman who coughed on family with four kids and said, ‘Corona’

Police in Atlanta in recent days were on the lookout for a woman who, upon leaving the Atlantic Station Target store in Midtown Atlanta on April 2, reportedly accosted a family. In an email sent to news outlets, cops said detectives were “seeking assistance” identifying the woman. Her apparent actions that day in this time of COVID-19 crisis were an all-too-real threat. Detectives, according to a police spokesman, “would like to speak to this female” about an incident in which she walked up to “a family with four children (who) were exercising outdoors.” The woman reportedly coughed on them, and then after coughing, she said, “Corona.” She then walked away. The police, according to the email, “believe this may have been part of some kind of social media challenge and investigators are working to identify the female.”

Dispatches: Back before Christmas, a 62-year-old man on Brigham Street in Macon’s Payne City neighborhood called the police to report that he’d had people over at his house. While they were there, he fell asleep on his couch. A sheriff’s report said the man had awakened and “not been able to find his wallet that had his social security, credit card, $30, and his driver’s license.” . . . A few days later, in another incident, this one on Fred Court in Macon, a 50-year-old woman reported seeing someone breaking into her car and stealing what a sheriff’s report described as “multiple (gift) bags … and piggy banks filled with change.” A sheriff’s deputy noted later: “I went through the (nearby) wooded area and did not see anyone. I did recover the change and piggy banks.”

Joe Kovac Jr.
The Telegraph
Joe Kovac Jr. writes about local news and features for The Telegraph, with an eye for human-interest stories. Joe is a Warner Robins native and graduate of Warner Robins High. He joined the Telegraph in 1991 after graduating from the University of Georgia. As a Pulliam Fellowship recipient in 1991, Joe worked for the Indianapolis News. His stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the Seattle Times and Atlanta Magazine. He has been a Livingston Award finalist and won numerous Georgia Press Association and Georgia Associated Press awards.
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