DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — Four of the suspects accused in a Douglasville shooting where two teens were killed at a Sweet 16 party last year appeared in court Friday morning for a plea hearing.
Two of them -- Noah Bradley and Michael Williams -- were sentenced in the case while Tahkel Beverly-Smart and Kingston Cottman, rejected the state's offer and will stand trial next month.
Bradley, 20, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault - party to the crime. As part of a plea agreement, he will spend five years in prison with another 15 years after that on probation. He was sentenced under first offender provisions and may have no contact with living victims of the shooting or victims' families or any co-defendants in the case.
Bradley also agreed to testify in any future trial on this case.
Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of felony murder, nine counts of aggravated assault and one count of violating Georgia's Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. His negotiated plea was for a life sentence with the possibility of parole, plus five years. He could have faced multiple life sentences without parole at a trial. The plea did not require him to testify at any future trials.
Two teenagers, 14-year-old Ajanaye Hill and 15-year-old Samuel Moon, were killed during the March 2023 shooting. Police later said the shooting appeared to be gang-related and that Hill and Moon were not the intended targets. The mothers of Hill and Moon spoke in court Friday.
"I have no words for you. None. Because it is just utter disgust when I think of your name now that I'm seeing you," Moon's mother, Beverly La Fleur, said, addressing Bradley first. "May God have mercy on your soul."
Later addressing Williams, she said as part of lengthier remarks, "My human side says I hope you rot in your jail cell, but my spiritual side says start worrying about your eternal death, for that is where true justice will come, and there's no avoiding that."
Several friends and family of Moon, including his sisters, also spoke to Williams. His sister Catherine turned to the other defendants in court at one point and said to them collectively: "What is wrong with you? My brother is dead, and you bragged... you took something that meant everything to me."
Hill's mother, Chanell White, told Bradley he knew what he was doing the night of March 4, 2023.
"You knew what you was getting yourself into," she said. "Moving forward, I pray that you choose your friends wisely. I have a hole in my heart -- I can't sleep, I don't eat, I'm not working. You knew what you was doing... think about your actions next time."
White later wiped away tears and struggled for words to address Williams. Her son, Ajanaye's twin brother Ahmaud, also spoke and said, "This loss was really hard on me" and "took a big effect on my family."
Bradley's lawyer said his "role, however it may look, was not what he intended that night," noting that he was not one of the shooters in the incident. Bradley himself said, "I sincerely apologize to the families."
Williams also apologized, and his attorney spoke of how he accepted responsibility for his role in the shooting -- which she framed as a rarity among murder defendants she has represented.
"I know I can't give y'all them lives back, but I do wanna apologize and give my condolences to the ones hurting right now because I would be the same way," he said. "And again, I'm just sorry. I'm sorry to the court and sorry to the people that lost their loved ones."
The judge overseeing the case said he's been in Douglas County since the early 1980s and that the shooting that also injured eight others "could be the worst crime we've ever had."
"I can't recall anything that I've seen in our community worse than this," the judge stated. "...With regard to the decision-making of the government in this case, it appears to me that the prosecution doesn't want to take any chances with regard to the actual shooters, and that's not an unreasonable agenda, so I'm gonna go along with the sentencing recommendation."
At least seven people in all were arrested in connection to the case.
Authorities said that there were more than 100 teenagers at the party off Sitka Drive and Talkeetna Road on March 4, 2023.
The photos below are of the two teens who were killed.
Prosecutors outlined some of the history of the case in court Friday.
They said the suspects who pleaded guilty, as well as others in the case, were members or associates of the Doubleback Gang, or DBG. Prosecutors said a DBG member had recently died, and the members who went to the party on March 4, 2023, were intending to fight anyone who had something negative to say about the dead gang member.
Prosecutors further said they made contact with a teen at the party, who told them about a 17-year-old who had posted negative comments about the dead gang member. They approached to fight him in masks and began pistol-whipping him.
A 15-year-old girl tried to break up the fight, at which point multiple suspects in the case began firing into the crowd.
The trials for Beverly-Smart and Cottman are set to begin on Sept. 30.