A Duluth man had “no apparent motive” for walking into his father’s garage and shooting two of his father’s friends in the head, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said.
Davon Jones was convicted of two counts of felony murder, one count of malice murder, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of a felony after a seven-day trial. He was acquitted of one malice murder charge.
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The two victims, Charles Roy Tyree Jr. and Michael William Liberty II, went to Jones’ father’s house on Jan. 22, 2017 to help fix a car. Shortly after they arrived, Jones walked into the garage and began to talk to Liberty and Tyree. He then pulled out a gun and fired two shots, hitting Tyree in the top of the head and Liberty in the back of the head, the DA’s office said. Tyree died in the garage and Liberty died while being transported to Gwinnett Medical Center.
Jones told police that the shooting was accidental. Jones’ aunt, Tammie Peterson, said that the gun accidentally went off when Jones was showing Liberty and Tyree the gun. Peterson described the men as “gun enthusiasts.”
There was no motive evident for Jones shooting Liberty and Tyree, according to Assistant District Attorney Brandon Delfunt; the conversation Jones had with the victims was not an argument. Prosecutors said Jones was known to suffer from “behavioral issues” that alarmed his family to the point that they took numerous guns away from Jones out of fear.
The DA’s office said that Jones was “very familiar” with firearms, regularly going to a firing range and taking gun safety classes. Peterson disputed that characterization, saying Jones did not regularly shoot at a firing range and had only taken one gun safety course.
After the shooting, Jones and his family created a foundation in honor of Liberty and Tyree, the Healing Forever and Saving Lives Foundation. The foundation is focused on keeping kids and teenagers away from guns by engaging them in activities including sports and music.
“I had to look deep into my soul and find away to turn this negative into a positive by actively being in the community and sharing my experience to help save lives from ever encountering what I went through,” Jones says in a post on the foundation’s website. “I made a bad choice to take an interest in firearms and a mistake and poor judgment with regard to safety measures.”
A jury returned a verdict on April 17 after six hours of deliberation. They acquitted Jones of the malice murder of Tyree but him convicted of the malice murder of Liberty and the felony murder of both men. Felony murder charges mean that the defendant is responsible for a victim’s death because of the commission of another felony (in this case, aggravated assault) and malice murder charges mean that the defendant is accused of killing someone purposefully and without provocation.
Jones will be sentenced on April 27.
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