Atlanta police have run into dead ends in solving the cold case shooting death of Rontavius Watson. Monday, they turned to a mother’s plea in the hope that it would break open a lead in the 2012 killing.
“I’m only looking for answers, closure in the death of my son,” Jalonda Watson told the media at police headquarters. “He didn’t deserve it, I didn’t deserve it, his son didn’t deserve it.”
Watson said her 25-year-old son was a hardworking father who cared for his then 4-year-old son.
Police were mum about what their investigation had unearthed as a possible motive in the shooting.
“We’re trying to piece it all together,” said Lt. Charles Hampton, head of the homicide division.
Watson, of East Point, died after driving his car to a Chevron station on Sylvan Road after the shooting. Another man who was injured was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and survived, according to a police report.
Hampton acknowledged a call had brought detectives to a scene a couple of blocks away from the Chevron where the shooting may have occurred, and police found shell casings.
Hampton declined to say what the call was about and how much Watson’s wounded friend had cooperated in the investigation. He said police were investigating other “incidences” to see if they were related to the killing.
In 2012, Chevron employee Abdul Ayla, who was working the overnight shift, told CBS Atlanta that the man later identified as Watson and another man sped into the parking lot driving a gold Infiniti. Police said then they got a call of shots being fired near the Chevron station five or 10 minutes before responding to the gas station.
Any information on the case can be submitted anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477), online at www.crimestoppersatlanta.org or by texting the tip to CRIMES (274637). Tipsters do not have to give their name or any identifying information to be eligible for the reward of up to $2,000 for the arrest and indictment of the suspects.
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