A 23-year-old gang member was sentenced to life in prison, more than two years after he sprayed a car with bullets, killed a teen and injured a man in southeast Atlanta.
According to prosecutors, Deqaveon Malcolm and fellow gang member Jamon Freeman pulled alongside a white Nissan Altima stopped at the intersection of Sawtell Avenue and Jonesboro Road on April 7, 2016, and opened fire.
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Malcolm and Freeman sped off in a black sedan with LED lights and a missing hubcap. The Altima careened into a nearby pawn shop and crashed into a fixed structure in the parking lot.
The driver, 19-year-old James Simmons, died from several gunshot wounds to his torso. The passenger, 21-year-old Trevis Bufford, was hit twice but survived the shooting.
The deadly shooting, prosecutors said, followed two incidents earlier that day. Bufford was walking in the area of the Trestletree Apartments in Atlanta when Freeman and Malcolm pistol-whipped him and stole his weapon, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said Monday in a news release.
Following the armed robbery, Simmons and Bufford returned to the apartment complex to look for Malcolm in an attempt to retrieve the stolen gun. When they couldn’t find Malcolm, Simmons and Bufford decided to fire shots at a vehicle that belonged to Malcolm’s girlfriend, according to the DA’s office. Simmons and Bufford were shot minutes later.
Phone records placed Malcolm and Freeman at the murder scene, and surveillance video from several locations showed Malcolm driving the black sedan at various times throughout the day. Video of Malcolm and Freeman robbing and pistol-whipping Buford was so clear, Bufford and Union City police had no problems identifying the duo, according to prosecutors.
“Before he could be arrested and brought to justice for Simmons’ murder, Freeman died in a car accident on July 3, 2016,” Howard said in the news release.
Malcolm was arrested on March 8, 2017.
He was convicted of felony murder, participating in a criminal street gang and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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