It was an open and shut case Wednesday in the DeKalb County trial of a man accused of gunning down his hotel suite mate for “lookin’ at me.”
It took jurors just 13 minutes to convict Sean Henderson, 47, of Stone Mountain, who shot and killed 36-year-old Derrick Hinton at a Knights Inn in Tucker in 2019, a spokesperson from the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Henderson was found guilty of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. DeKalb Superior Court Judge Asha Jackson sentenced him to life in prison plus five years with the possibility of parole.
The conviction stems from the Aug. 29, 2019, homicide at the hotel on Lawrenceville Highway, where Henderson and Hinton lived together. Hinton’s girlfriend and their children also lived in the room.
Following a brief argument, Henderson shot Hinton three times in the doorway of their room, according to a news release from the District Attorney’s Office.
According to prosecutors, Hinton’s girlfriend was standing in the doorway of another hotel room. Henderson told her he shot Hinton because he “was lookin’ at me.”
Investigators testified that Henderson called a friend to pick him up prior to police arriving. The friend helped Henderson pack his bags and drove him to another hotel. During the drive, Henderson told his friend that Hinton “said something smart to him, so he shot him,” court officials said.
Around the same time, Hinton was being rushed to Atlanta Medical Center, clinging to life. He later died there.
Surveillance cameras captured Henderson fleeing the hotel just after the shooting. DeKalb police arrested him at another hotel the following day and recovered the murder weapon from his room.
Henderson initially denied shooting Hinton, but said at trial he fired at the victim in self-defense when Hinton tried to attack him with a plastic broom, officials said.
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