Adrianne Rodriguez has felt the type of heartache no mother should have to face.
“I’ve lost three kids to guns,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This is ridiculous.”
On Aug. 24, 2014, Rodriguez’s son, Nizzear, was shot in his bed just hours after celebrating his 13th birthday. Then, on Feb. 2, 2023, her pregnant daughter was shot. Shaniyah Monet Rodriguez, 20, died two days later. The baby, delivered early, survived just over four months.
No one was ever convicted of murder in her son’s death.
But on Friday, Adrienne Rodridguez got justice for Shaniyah and baby Milliani. On Friday, a DeKalb County jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before finding Shaniyah’s boyfriend guilty of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Diamonte Haithcoats, 24, was then sentenced to two life sentences, plus five years, without the possibility of parole after a weeklong trial.
When the verdict was read, Haithcoats covered his face with his dreadlocks, Rodriguez said. He didn’t testify and declined to speak in the courtroom.
“He chose not to say sorry, nothing,” Rodriguez said.
On Monday, public defender Scott DePlonty, who represented Haithcoats, filed a motion for a new trial, stating the verdict was contrary to the evidence, court records show. DePlonty did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Rodriguez said she considered him family and Haithcoats even called her mom. But she said she will never understand what led him to fire seven rounds from an AK-47 at her daughter on Feb. 2, 2023, at the Brannon Hill condominiums in the 6600 block of Singleton Lane in DeKalb. Then, Rodriguez said, Haithcoats ran.
Credit: Family photo
Credit: Family photo
“He probably didn’t even realize she didn’t die,” Rodriguez said. “He probably didn’t know she was still alive. I feel like he was shooting to scare her and when she fell, he probably thought he killed her.”
According to investigators, a resident at the condominium complex heard gunshots and went outside, where he found Shaniyah with a gunshot wound to the head and called 911 at around 5:45 a.m., District Attorney Sherry Boston said Monday.
The witness reported seeing a dark-colored SUV drive away from the area, and investigators saw what appeared to be a dark blue Hyundai Palisade leaving on safety cameras in the area, Boston’s office said.
The Palisade was located several days later and police determined it had been stolen, investigators said. Shaniyah’s phone showed it had been paired with the vehicle minutes before the 911 call. Haithcoats’s phone records showed he left the area after Shaniyah was shot, according to investigators.
Haithcoats denied he was involved with her death and wouldn’t admit he was the baby’s father, the district attorney’s office said.
Through the 911 call and body camera footage from an officer that arrived at the scene, investigators were able to piece together what they believe happened.
“I‘ll never know why,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll never know how it got to that point. ”
Shaniyah wasn’t killed instantly, but had a wound to her head the size of a golf ball, Rodriguez later learned. A bullet had grazed her, but the power from the assault weapon left her critically wounded. Her daughter couldn’t speak but there were cries and moaning, Rodriguez said.
Two days later, Shaniyah died. Doctors delivered Milliani, who wasn’t due for about six weeks, the same day her mother was shot.
“Most people don’t go through it once in life,” Rodriguez said days losing her daughter. “Out of all the people in the world, how the hell do I go through it twice?”
On Feb. 27, 2023, Haithcoats was arrested and booked into the DeKalb jail, where he has remained. In an unrelated incident that May, Haithcoats was charged with unlawful acts of violence in a penal institution and battery — those charges are still pending, court records show.
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
After her daughter’s death, Rodriguez’s focus became her granddaughter. She spent countless hours at the hospital with Milliani, who relied on a breathing machine. After 4½ months, the little girl couldn’t fight any more. She died June 19, 2023.
Nearly two years later, Rodriguez says she still has nightmares. When she walks into a store, she can’t help but look at baby items. Then she remembers.
“My brain just can’t understand that she’s not here,” Rodriguez said. “I still talk about her as though she still here.”
She said she’s relieved the trial is over and Haithcoats will never be a free man again. Rodriguez says isn’t sure how, but she wants her heartbreak to help others. She has considered writing a book or starting her own business, and prays for answers, she said.
“God, I hope you didn’t put me through all of this to just go through it and die,” Rodriguez says she often thinks. “Something positive has to come out of this.”
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