MOULTRIE: The owner of a Moultrie tattoo parlor and three other people have been charged in connection with a pair of incidents last weekend. Methamphetamine valued at $10,000 was seized during the investigation.
The first incident was a routine traffic stop May 16 from which two men tried to flee — one of them successfully. About three hours later, around 1:30 a.m. May 17, officers responded to shots fired at the tattoo parlor, Twizted Ink, 483 U.S. Highway 319 North.
Approximately 10:30 p.m. May 17, a Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office deputy initiated a traffic stop on a GMC Z-71 that had an inoperable brake light, and the driver pulled into the parking lot of the tattoo parlor, said sheriff’s Inv. Randy Rakestraw.
“When the truck came to rest in the driveway of Twizted Ink two occupants ran on foot,” Rakestraw said. “Deputies caught one — Kevin Knipple — and determined he was the passenger. The driver was never located and he has not been identified as of this time.”
Officers found a small amount of suspected crystal methamphetamine and Diazepam pills in the truck and a pistol on the path along which both men ran, he said, and they were linked to Knipple.
Deputies and investigators were on the scene about two hours, processing the truck and searching for the driver.
Only an hour after they left, officers returned in response to the report of gunshots at the tattoo parlor. Inside, they found white powder in multiple locations in the business and a pistol in a trash can.
Eight people were in the building at the time, among them Luis Everardo Cardenas Rodriguez, Rakestraw said.
“When uniform patrol (officers) looked in the front door they could see the haze of smoke and (detected) the smell of gunpowder,” he said. “Their investigation determined that Luis Everardo Cardenas Rodriguez had kicked in the back door of Twizted Ink brandishing a firearm and fired two shots into the air. He told law enforcement he was there trying to find Kevin Knipple, for what reason we don’t know.”
