On the evening of January 13, 2017, 21-year-old Daryl Deshawn Phillips was shot multiple times in the back and died in a vehicle in Decatur, Georgia. The shooting occurred near a Kroger on Wesley Chapel Road; two acquaintances, 21-year-old Chalante Thomas and 28-year-old Demario Cotton, initially told police they had been waiting for Phillips when he was struck by gunfire and that they had driven him to a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot to get help.

Security camera footage from a nearby McDonald’s contradicted that account. Investigators concluded the encounter was an armed robbery rather than a random attack and allege Thomas and Cotton took part in a plan to steal more than an ounce of marijuana from Phillips. Both were arrested and charged with murder and armed robbery; Thomas was held without bond.