DoorDash driver killed in ‘domestic’ shooting outside Palmetto Elementary
Officers arrested a suspect in Middle Georgia hours after a woman delivering a DoorDash order was fatally shot outside a Fulton County elementary school in what officials called a domestic-related incident.
School district spokesperson Brian Noyes told reporters the shooting happened “right outside the front door” of Palmetto Elementary School. The door is on the right side of the building as seen from the street. The district confirmed an adult was killed and said all students and staff are safe.
“There’s several yards, probably 10 (or) 20 yards, from the front door to where the incident happened,” Noyes said as he spoke at the scene around 2:30 p.m.
The victim was identified by the Fulton Medical Examiner’s Office as 34-year-old Eboni Anderson.
A DoorDash spokesperson confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Anderson was at Palmetto Elementary fulfilling a delivery.
“This is a tragic situation and our thoughts are with the Dasher’s loved ones. Our team is urgently investigating and working with law enforcement to help their investigation in any way possible,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The suspect, identified as Christopher Ates, 39, was taken into custody by Houston County Sheriff’s Office deputies, officials there said Wednesday. The area is more than 120 miles south of Palmetto.
Officials have not said if the suspect had any connections to the school or specified how he may be connected to the victim. In a letter sent to parents hours after the shooting, Principal Jacqueline Bowens described the situation as “a domestic dispute that spilled over onto school grounds.”
Houston authorities said deputies pursued Ates on Tuesday evening into Twiggs County, where the chase ended with a crash into a ditch. Ates then ran into a wooded area, where deputies apprehended him.
“Law enforcement agencies are working together so the suspect can face criminal charges in Fulton County,” Noyes said in a text to the AJC.
Records from the Georgia Department of Corrections show Ates spent nearly a decade in prison for charges of armed robbery and possession of a firearm during a crime in a 2006 incident in Houston County. He was released from the Albany Transitional Center in September 2016.
Palmetto Elementary on Carlton Road was put under a hard lockdown as law enforcement worked the scene. By about 2 p.m. Tuesday, a photojournalist from the AJC observed only a few police cruisers and law enforcement officials walking inside and outside the school.
All students were relocated to Bear Creek Middle School about 5 miles away. Palmetto enrolls about 500 students in prekindergarten through fifth grades, according to Georgia Department of Education data.
Officials asked parents and the public to stay clear of the school for safety reasons. Noyes said the school reopened Wednesday.
— Staff writer Rosana Hughes contributed to this report.
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