Police now say they don't think the murder of a Dunwoody father-of-two was random.
Police Sergeant Mike Carlson tells Channel 2 Action News the gunman and the victim spoke briefly before the shooting.
“They possibly knew each other,” says Carlson. “It’s the exchange of words they had. It was very brief, prior to the firing of the shots.”
Ivan Perez, 32, moved to Dunwoody from New York less than a year ago.
Police say they have strong leads in the case, which family members thought was a case of mistaken identity.
Perez was gunned down Monday afternoon inside his own apartment complex around 4:00 p.m. in a stairwell of the Pointe at Perimeter Apartments off of Ashford-Dunwoody Road.
Witnesses describe the gunman as a black man who drove away in a silver BMW X-5 SUV.
Another resident of the complex heard the gunshots and ran to the victim's aid.
He found Perez bleeding from the head and back. Perez later died at Grady Hospital.
Residents also blame a broken lock on the front gate of the complex for allowing the suspects to get in and out quickly from the complex near Perimeter Mall.