In the late morning of May 27, 2021, a burst of violence shattered the quiet of the Breckenridge Apartments on Old Dixie Road in Forest Park, Georgia. Arriving at the scene around 11:45 a.m., police discovered 28-year-old Delmario Andreas Benton lying on the ground next to his car in the parking lot. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the chest. Emergency medical services treated Benton at the scene before rushing him to a nearby hospital, but his injuries proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses at the apartment complex described seeing a man flee the area on foot immediately after the shooting. In the weeks that followed, Forest Park police worked to identify the individual responsible for Benton's death. Their investigation initially led them to identify a 'person of interest,' Samuel Dixon, 22, and circulated his photo in the hope that the public could assist in locating him for questioning. However, as the investigation progressed, another individual emerged as the primary suspect.
Two months after the fatal shooting, an arrest was made. On August 3, 2021, authorities took 17-year-old Demetrius Tyrone Wayne Price Jr. into custody at an Atlanta nightclub. Law enforcement officials confirmed that Price was the individual in a photo they had previously released to the public, and that the other man, Samuel Dixon, was no longer facing any charges in connection with the case. Price was subsequently charged with a litany of serious offenses, including malice murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. He was taken to the Clayton County jail and held without bond. The investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of Delmario Benton, a man his family described as a 'loyal, passionate young man, who cared dearly for his family and those around him,' was ongoing.
