A man who opened fire on a couple in the breezeway of a Union City motel will spend the rest of his life in prison, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
Diontye Scott, 38, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus 35 years in connection with the October 2017 murder of 25-year-old Antonio Veal.
Prosecutors said Scott shot Veal and his girlfriend during a dispute on the second floor of the Garden Inn and Suites on Shannon Parkway. The attack was revenge for an armed robbery and shooting that occurred a week earlier at the same motel, authorities said.
“During that event, Scott’s girlfriend was shot, so the defendant was attempting to seek revenge against Veal for the injuries she suffered,” said Chris Hopper, spokesman for the Fulton DA’s office.
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During the confrontation, Veal repeatedly denied any involvement in the armed robbery as Scott grew increasingly agitated, prosecutors said. Scott eventually pulled out a Glock 9 mm handgun and shot Veal in the chest. He then shot at Veal’s girlfriend, who witnessed the argument. She survived her injuries, but Veal died.
The entire incident was captured on the motel’s surveillance cameras.
After the shooting, Scott fled the scene. College Park police attempted to pull him over for speeding, but Scott refused to stop and tossed marijuana and the murder weapon from his car window with police in pursuit.
He was eventually arrested and officers recovered the handgun from the side of the road, Hopper said. Ballistics testing conducted by the GBI linked the Glock to the double shooting.
Scott was convicted of one count each of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, speeding, driving on a suspended license and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
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