Stray bullet kills 81-year-old Atlanta woman

ATLANTA -- Police say a man has been arrested in a shooting that killed an elderly woman who was sitting on her porch playing cards.

Atlanta police spokesman Officer Ralph Woolfolk tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution 30-year-old Johnny Maurice Avery of Atlanta is charged with murder in the death of 81-year-old Mildred Martin.

Authorities have said Martin was playing spades on her porch Monday night when she was struck by a stray bullet.

Georgia Department of Corrections records say Avery was previously convicted of false imprisonment and child molestation in Henry County. Fulton County jail records say Avery was booked Thursday and is being held without bond. It's unclear if he has an attorney and details on the circumstances that led to the shooting weren't immediately available.

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