Shooter targeting 17-year-old kills his sleeping grandmother instead, Georgia cops say
A man accused of shooting and killing a woman as she slept at an Atlanta-area hotel is headed to prison, Georgia prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Tyree Jaron Simmons, 27, of murder Friday, Sept. 20, in the death of Christine Walker, 64, according to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Simmons was targeting Walker’s 17-year-old grandson but killed the sleeping woman instead.
He was also found guilty on two counts of aggravated assault, first-degree criminal damage to property and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the February 2022 incident, prosecutors said.
Simmons faces life in prison, though no sentencing date has been set as of Sept. 24.
“Christine Walker was asleep when the defendant opened fire into her room” at the InTown Suites near Lilburn, Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a news release.
“All she did was take responsibility for raising her grandson,” Austin-Gatson added. “She did not deserve to be murdered this way.”
On Feb. 22, 2022, Walker was asleep in the Snellville hotel room she shared with her grandson, A’Jadeen Cunningham, according to the release.
Cunningham got up to use the restroom around 4:30 a.m. and heard rapid gunfire, according to prosecutors. He came out of the bathroom to find his grandmother shot in the head.
Walker died from her injuries, prosecutors said.
Authorities said Cunningham, Walker’s grandson, had a previous run-in with Simmons. Cunningham told police that Simmons threatened him with a gun with a “switch” on it.
Austin-Gatson called the shooting “especially egregious” because the attachment turned Simmons’ “semi-automatic handgun into an automatic weapon.”
Simmons denied knowing Cunningham, being involved in the shooting or having a weapon, prosecutors said.
However, investigators found a handgun with a switch attachment stashed in a stove drip-pan in the hotel room where he was staying, authorities said.
“Our hearts pour out for Ms. Walker’s grandson and for her family and loved ones,” Austin-Gatson said.
Lilburn is about a 20-mile drive northeast from downtown Atlanta.
Gun violence in the US
Thousands of people die every year from firearm injuries in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gun-related injuries remain a “significant public health problem,” experts say, and were among the leading causes of death in people aged 1 to 44 in 2022.
That same year, the CDC reported over 48,000 firearm-related deaths across the country.
“The effects of firearm violence extend beyond victims and their families,” public health experts said.
“Shooting incidents, including those in homes, schools, houses of worship, workplaces, shopping areas, on the street or at community events can affect the sense of safety and security of entire communities and impact everyday decisions.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2024 at 12:06 PM with the headline "Shooter targeting 17-year-old kills his sleeping grandmother instead, Georgia cops say."