The man accused in the weekend shooting death of the nephew of a state representative was denied bond at his first court appearance Tuesday in Clayton County.
Divonte Jiles Lester, 20, was playing with a gun he believed was unloaded when he shot and killed 19-year-old Quinn Keevon Heckstall, according to Clayton County police.
Lester has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and tampering with evidence in the death of Heckstall, Officer D. White with Clayton County police said.
A nephew of state Rep. Joe Heckstall (D-East Point), Quinn Heckstall was shot around 7:30 p.m. Saturday while visiting a friend at an apartment complex on Wagon Wheel Court near Jonesboro, police said. The victim was transported to Southern Regional Hospital, but he did not survive.
Lester lives at the complex, according to jail booking records.
Channel 2 Action News was there when Lester turned himself in Monday night at Clayton County police headquarters.
Asked if he had anything to say to the Heckstall family as he was being led off to jail, Lester said, “Tell them I love them and that he was like my brother. … I’m so sorry. That was my brother, man.”
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