DECATUR, Ga. — The family of a man shot and killed at a DeKalb County bus stop is pleading for answers and looking for justice as they plan his funeral.
The cousin of 41-year-old James Dean said he was heading home after doing some work for a friend. Dean's family said he often worked 70-hour weeks to provide for his family and would always call close friends and family members just to say he loved them.
Dean's homicide is becoming more real for his cousin, Kyonna Jones-Carter, as she goes through his belongings. The family hadn't heard from him since Feb. 17.
“The gut feeling told me he reached out to the medical examiner's office. When I did so, that's when I found out that. James was actually there. He was deceased. He was killed," Jones-Carter said.
That came a few days after he went missing. His cousin said watching surveillance video from a nearby store, which she provided to 11Alive, was just as difficult.
“Watching the video was devastating. It was devastating. My cousin was literally standing on a pole at a bus stop waiting for his bus. Other people were around, and those guys, literally the first thing they did was put a gun to my cousin’s head," Jones-Carter said.
The video shows two men shot and killed Dean, while he waited at a bus stop at Candler and Glenwood Roads in Decatur around 12:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 17.
There was at least one witness at the bus stop, but no one called for help or tried to help Dean.
“You sat there. You could have saved my cousin's life," Jones-Carter said. "My cousin bled out, and that was his cause of death. You could have saved his life if you would have just anonymously called the police and made it known because the guys had been gone for so long.”
Dean leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter and a family coming to terms with never seeing his smile again.
“He can't even see a grandchild be born or his daughter get married, can't even give his daughter away at her wedding when the time comes. He won't be able to make her graduation. Not only did they take that from him, they took that from her," Jones-Carter said.
11Alive asked DeKalb County Police if they are investigating, and they have not responded to our requests.
Dean's family started an online fundraiser to pay for his funeral expenses. He did not have life insurance.