As a Gwinnett County police officer told witnesses’ accounts of a double shooting in Snellville, Trevaughn McBrier sneered, shook his head and muttered an obscenity before a court officer told him to stop.
McBrier, 18, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He's accused of shooting 30-year-old Andre Devost in the face and a 14-year-old in the backside on July 20.
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Devost and McBrier had argued about Devost getting evicted from his apartment on Highpoint Court, where the shooting occurred, officer John Cleland said in a probable cause hearing Thursday.
Devost accused McBrier of kicking down his door and causing other damage that led to Devost’s eviction, and the two agreed to fight as “punishment” for Devost’s eviction, Cleland said.
The fight lasted about a minute and left McBrier bloody, with a split lip, Cleland said. McBrier had arrived to the apartment with a gun, but agreed to leave it in the kitchen while he and Devost fought in the living room, according to Cleland.
After the fight, McBrier went to the kitchen to clean up. He returned with the gun and began to shoot at Devost, hitting him in the jaw and the 14-year-old in the backside, Cleland said.
The 14-year-old was in the apartment because Devost had asked the boy to check on his home, believing McBrier had broken in. The teen saw the door had been kicked in, and went inside to find it empty.
McBrier, Devost and friends of Devost arrived at the apartment shortly after the teenager, Cleland said.
Devost and the teenager were taken to Eastside Medical Center after the shooting. A message written in blood reading "DRE MOM I love u" was found on a car near the apartment, but that message was not explained by police after the shooting nor in the Thursday hearing.
McBrier was arrested in Henry County two days after the shooting occurred.
After his arrest, McBrier told Cleland he had reached for the gun during the fight in fear for his safety, not after the fight had ended. He said the gun was on the stairs in the house and he did not know who it belonged to.
McBrier remains in the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond. He was not eligible to receive bond because of a previous felony conviction under Georgia’s First Offender Act.
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