Hours after a woman was shot to death inside a Gwinnett County home, police and SWAT officers took her boyfriend into custody.
Ray Charles Evans, 31, of Lawrenceville, was charged with felony murder in the shooting death of Shakiyla Sample. The 29-year-old Lawrenceville woman was found dead inside a home in the 1600 block of Prospect Church Road after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots about 4:30 a.m. Monday, according to Gwinnett police.
“She was my baby sister,” Cleo Sample, the victim’s brother, said Monday. “Nobody’s perfect, but she always made you smile and always cared.”
Evans and Sample had been dating for just a few weeks prior to the shooting, Channel 2 Action News reported.
“Maybe I should have told her to stay away,” Cleo sample said.
Detectives collected evidence and spoke with witnesses at the home late into the morning, quickly developing a lead on a suspect, police spokesman Officer Fed Joseph told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from the scene. A motive behind the shooting was not disclosed, but at least one witness was inside the home during the incident.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
The homicide is the third for Gwinnett County police in 48 hours. Within one hour Sunday morning, two men were killed in separate shootings in a Snellville-area neighborhood and at a strip mall near Norcross.
Shortly after 2 a.m., officers responded to a report of a person shot and found one man dead inside a home on Forrest Bend Lane. The victim, whose name was not released, had been shot in the torso, according to police.
While investigators were working that scene, Gwinnett police got another call at 2:50 a.m. about a shooting on the corner of Britt Road and Jimmy Carter Boulevard, this time with three victims. After hearing gunshots, an off-duty officer left his security post at a nearby karaoke bar and found one man dead in the parking lot of 11 Lounge.
Two other men were found shot nearby, and they were taken to a hospital. Their conditions were not provided.
Evans’ is the only arrest made in the weekend homicides. In addition to the murder charge, he faces charges of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail on Monday just before 4:15 p.m. where he is being held without bond.
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