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Suspect in fatal shooting makes first court appearance
Hearing set for later this month for man accused of killing car dealership employee
1231Mark Taylor
Mark Antonio Taylor II
A committal hearing is set for Jan. 25 for a 21-year-old Gainesville man charged with murder.Mark Antonio Taylor II, accused in Friday’s shooting death of an auto dealership employee, made his first appearance in Hall County Court on Monday morning.He is being held without bail at the Hall County Jail. He also faces charges of armed robbery, theft by taking of a motor vehicle and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.Taylor has requested an attorney, which will be provided by the public defender’s office.“This is believed to have been a random crime,” Cpl. Kevin Holbrook, Gainesville police spokesman, said Sunday. “There is no indication that the victim or the Carriage Auto Group was specifically targeted.”Gainesville police were called about 8 a.m. Friday to Carriage Mitsubishi at 2801 Browns Bridge Road, after an employee found the body of Charles Weaver, 42, of Gainesville, in the rear of the complex.According to an arrest warrant, Taylor shot Weaver twice with a .45-caliber handgun at about 6 a.m. The warrant also alleges he took a 2011 Nissan Frontier, a knife and cellphone.Police, discovering the pickup truck was missing from the scene, sought help from the public in locating the vehicle, which was covered in dealership markings.