DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced a conviction by jury trial in the case against a Decatur man accused of firing into a minivan full of people, killing a man and permanently injuring a baby.
On Thursday, August 1, jurors found Deonta David, 28, guilty on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, five counts of Aggravated Assault, two counts of Cruelty to Children in the First Degree, Aggravated Battery and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony stemming from the shooting on August 20, 2020.
According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded at around 7 p.m. to an address in the 2800 block of Flat Shoals Road after a 911 call reporting multiple people had been shot in a minivan. Officers found Diante Harring, 25, unresponsive inside the van. They also found a 10-year-old boy who had been shot in the abdomen, a 7-month-old boy who had been shot in the foot, and Harring’s adult brother, Clifton Vickers, who had been shot in the arm. The children’s mother was the only one inside the van who was not hurt.
Paramedics transported the victims to the hospital where Harring was pronounced dead. While Vickers and the 10-year-old made a full recovery, the baby permanently lost a toe.
Investigators learned that Harring and those in the van were visiting Atlanta from New York. Harring had arranged to meet up with Defendant David to buy some marijuana. After some back and forth, Defendant David told them to drive to an apartment complex on Columbia Drive.
When they arrived, Defendant David opened fire on the van with an AR-15 rifle. Another unknown person with David also shot into the vehicle with a handgun. Harring drove out of the complex to escape but could no longer drive safely at one point. Vickers took over before they finally stopped on Flat Shoals Road.
Once he recovered from his injuries, Vickers identified Defendant David out of a lineup. Cell phone data also placed Defendant David in the area during the shooting. Text messages on Defendant David’s phone show he was last communicating with Harring minutes before his death.
Following guilty verdicts for all charges presented by Senior Assistant District Attorney Helen Pott and her team including Reid White and Curtis Averhart with victim advocacy support from Kaysha Albritton; Senior Judge Winston Bethel sentenced Defendant David to life plus 85 years immediately after trial conclusion presiding over DeKalb County Superior Court's case initially led by now District Attorney Investigator J.B Williams.