A bicycle stored in a DeKalb County apartment complex hallway fueled a clash between two neighbors in 2020.
On Monday, one of those neighbors was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of murder.
Alphonso Watts, 53, was also convicted of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was sentenced to life, plus 15 years, in the death of 35-year-old Darryl Halden, the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office said.
On Aug. 16, 2020, Halden was found lying unresponsive near a dumpster at an apartment complex on Friendly Heights Boulevard off Snapfinger Woods Drive around 7:40 p.m. He had been shot multiple times and was later pronounced dead, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Claire Chaffins stated.
Surveillance cameras at the complex caught Watts leaving his apartment around 7:31 p.m. and Halden walking out of a building carrying trash bags seconds later. Chaffins said Halden was not seen again on footage, but Watts was seen leaving the dumpster area around 7:33 p.m.
Residents at the complex informed investigators that Watts and Halden had been involved in a dispute regarding the victim storing his bicycle in the hallway of a building, Chaffins said.
They also said Watts believed Halden was spying on him through his smoke detector. Chaffins said Watts admitted during an interview with detectives that “he believed someone had been watching him through the smoke detectors in his ceiling.”
A maintenance employee at the complex checked Watts’ apartment at some point and no evidence was found, Chaffins confirmed.
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