ATLANTA (WXIA) – Atlanta police have arrested and charged the man they believe shot and killed Dantavious Chatman on April 21, while Chatman and his three year old daughter were waiting at a bus stop.
The suspect is Deon Clinton Davis, 23. Police did not have to search for Davis when they were ready to charge him – he was already an inmate at the Fulton County jail, arrested earlier this month in a separate case of armed robbery and aggravated assault.
Chatman's mother, Veronica Tuggle, told 11Alive News she is grateful a suspect has been charged, and spoke of how hard this has been on the family, especially Chatman's daughter, DeKayla.
"She has nightmares, she wants her father," Tuggle, DeKayla's grandmother, said. "She always says she wants her father…. I was just surprised police arrested someone. I didn't think that, whoever the guy was, that he would ever be caught. But I thank God that he is, and justice will be served."
DeKayla and Dantavious were inseparable, Tuggle said.
"Him and his baby -- you see one, you see the other. He never went anywhere without her."
It was April 21 when Dantavious Chatman, 31, was shot multiple times while he and DeKayla were waiting for a MARTA bus on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway NW.
They'd just left his mother's home, across the street.
Atlanta police quickly identified Deon Clinton Davis as the suspect. They say Davis and Chatman knew each other and had been involved in some sort of on-going argument that ended in the gunfire.
Chatman's family raised $6,000 in reward money, suspecting Davis might have been involved and hoping people would come forward with evidence to help police.
The Atlanta Police Homicide Commander, Capt. Michael O'Connor, said detectives began investigating Davis soon after the shooting.
"We had a serious interest in getting this subject in custody due to the callousness of this homicide," Capt. O'Connor said. "I mean, essentially he murdered somebody in cold blood while sitting next to their two year old child [ed. note: DeKayla's third birthday was three weeks prior to the shooting]. We would characterize that person as extremely dangerous and we are extremely satisfied in getting him off of the streets."
As for Chatman, at the time of his death he was one of several "persons of interest" in a triple shooting and homicide in College Park on October 29. Police later identified the man who was killed as Xavier Barnes, 32. The other two men recovered from their gunshot wounds. College Park Police stopped short of calling Chatman one of the suspects in the shootings.
Chatman's mother, Veronica Tuggle, said she was aware of the College Park investigation, but police have not given her any details. She said her focus now is on DeKayla. DeKayla lives with her mother but is a frequent visitor to Tuggle's home. And Tuggle wept as she spoke of trying to console DeKayla, so she won't have nightmares anymore.
"She said her daddy is asleep. But she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. And she wakes up saying she wants her daddy."
Police continue to investigate the case. As of now they do not believe anyone else was involved, they believe Davis acted alone.
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