Using technology and taking decisive action, Gwinnett County police said they were able to capture a murder suspect about 45 minutes after getting a 911 call about a shooting Wednesday.
Darius Devon Dugger, 46, of Lawrenceville, was found dead from a gunshot wound in his blue Chevrolet pickup truck at the Mall Corners Shopping Center on Pleasant Hill Road around 1 p.m., Gwinnett police said. His fiancée, who asked not to be identified, said she and Dugger’s 4-year-old son were in the truck with him when the suspect began firing, Channel 2 Action News reported.
A witness who was in the parking lot at the time called 911 and gave police a description of the suspect’s vehicle, officials said.
Using “various technology,” which officials did not describe in detail, police said they were able to quickly track down and detain the driver. Officers took 26-year-old Neil Patrick Frasdilla, also from Lawrenceville, into custody near Dunwoody Club Drive, police said.
Frasdilla was later arrested on one count of felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, police said.
Authorities said the motive for the shooting remains under investigation. No further details have been released.
Though Dugger’s fiancée was in the truck with him, she was not able to shed light on why Frasdilla allegedly attacked them. The family had been out to lunch when she said Dugger realized a car was following them, according to Channel 2. She said Dugger pulled into the Mall Corners parking lot to figure out what was happening, but they were met with a barrage of gunfire.
“As he put his head out, the fire, the fire just came,” Dugger’s fiancée said. “And I was just trying to put the car in park and get my child out.”
She told Channel 2 she ran to a nearby tow truck for help, and the driver called 911. According to Dugger’s fiancée, he was the kind of man who wanted to help prevent such violent incidents from ever happening.
“He always wanted to mentor kids to make sure they didn’t go down a bad road,” she told Channel 2.
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