On the late morning of November 28, 2023, a dispute in the lobby of the Budgetel Inn & Suites on Circle 75 Parkway near Atlanta escalated into a fatal shooting. Demarcus Watson, 27, was shot during an argument with another individual; Cobb County Police were called around 11:43 a.m. Officers found Watson with a gunshot wound and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The department’s Major Crimes Unit opened a homicide investigation.

Police initially listed the shooter as unidentified and at large. In the days after the shooting investigators named a suspect and obtained an arrest warrant for Donte Leon Hale of Atlanta, charging him in connection with Watson’s death. The charges listed include felony murder, aggravated assault, and two gun-related offenses tied to a prior felony conviction in 2003.

Does anyone have information about Watson’s activities that day or about the confrontation at the hotel?