On the final day of 2021, a violent home invasion in northwest Atlanta claimed the life of 21-year-old Jaquon M. Anderson. The male victim was at a residence on Bethel Drive in the early morning hours of December 31st when the fatal encounter occurred.
According to a witness who was with Anderson, they were approaching the front door of the home when two men, one of whom was later identified as Dequavius Franklin, emerged from the side of the house brandishing firearms.
The witness fled the scene, at which point Anderson was forced inside the residence by the armed assailants. In the ensuing moments, Anderson was shot ten times. Despite his injuries, Anderson, who was also armed, managed to fire his own weapon twice, striking Franklin in the abdomen. Atlanta police responded to the scene at approximately 3:10 a.m. and discovered Anderson deceased inside the home from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation into Anderson's death led authorities to Dequavius Franklin, who had been dropped off at a local hospital with a gunshot wound. During questioning, Franklin claimed he had been shot near a Waffle House in East Point, a story that investigators could not substantiate. Surveillance footage and, crucially, DNA evidence from blood found at the crime scene linked Franklin to the home invasion and shooting on Bethel Drive.
Months after the incident, in March 2022, Dequavius Franklin, then 23, was arrested and charged with murder. An unidentified and masked accomplice who was with Franklin during the home invasion has not been apprehended. In July 2024, a Fulton County jury found the 25-year-old Franklin guilty on eleven counts, including murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and first-degree home invasion. His sentencing was scheduled for a later date.
