Divorced couple living together found shot in burning home

A tumultuous living arrangement may have pushed a divorced Lawrenceville couple — both found wounded Friday after a shooting at their home — toward a violent and fiery confrontation.

Court records show the couple had been at odds recently because the ex-husband was still living in the house on the 1700 block of Cagle Court almost a year after their divorce was finalized. The wife was trying to have him evicted. Authorities did not identify the couple on Friday morning, but court records and at least one neighbor identified them as Joy Annmarie Pink and Derrick Alson Pink.

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Vino Wong/vwong@ajc.com

Gwinnett police and firefighters found two gunshot victims in a housefire at 1732 Cagle Court in Lawrenceville this morning.

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Deputies were scheduled to evict Derrick Pink at 9 a.m. Friday, according to Maj. David Parr of the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department. That action was preempted when a woman dialed 911 at 7:30 a.m.

“We got a call from 911. The call was a little chaotic,” said Gwinnett police spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman.

The first police officer to arrive found smoke and flames coming from the house, Spellman said. The officer alerted the fire department and then entered the two-story house, where he saw a man lying on the floor suffering from a gunshot wound.

The firefighter later went upstairs and found a woman had also been shot, Spellman said. Both were pulled from the home and transported to Gwinnett Medical Center. Joy Pink was listed in critical but stable condition after surgery. Derrick Pink was still undergoing surgery.

One firefighter also was hospitalized. The firefighter experienced a “medical emergency” while battling the blaze, but was expected to be OK, said Gwinnett fire Capt. Thomas Rutledge.

Spellman said no other persons are suspected of being involved in the shooting. It wasn’t clear whether the husband or wife, or both, were the aggressor. The fire’s cause is unknown.

Joy Pink, who got the house in the divorce settlement, sought to have her husband tossed out in November by filing a dispossessory notice in Gwinnett County Magistrate Court. A judge signed off on the eviction of Derrick Pink in January. The couple would not have been aware on Friday that deputies were coming that day to evict Derrick, but they would have received notice that an eviction was pending, according to Parr. Eviction schedules are kept secret for officer safety.

Court documents show the Pinks have a 17-year-old son, but police said the son had left for school before the incident.

— AJC staff writers Mike Morris and Patrick Fox contributed to this report.