Donnell Graham, 27, a Black man, was killed on March 10, 2020, in Augusta, Georgia, after finishing his shift at a Popeye’s in Daniel Village. According to the evidence later laid out in court, the danger had been building before he ever stepped into the parking lot that night. A few days earlier, Kenneth Green had argued with Graham by phone and threatened to kill him, telling him he knew where he worked and what time he got off.
The feud, prosecutors said, centered on the fact that Graham had a child with the same woman who was also the mother of Kenneth Green’s child. On the night of the shooting, Graham walked out into what must have seemed like an ordinary end to a workday, but two young men had already been sent to wait near his car. When he came back outside, got in, and tried to leave, gunfire erupted as he drove around the lot.
The case that followed painted the killing as a planned ambush rather than a sudden confrontation. The Georgia Supreme Court’s later opinion says Kenneth Green asked his girlfriend, Ashley Jones, to drive him so he could “make a play,” then had her pick up Kendrick Green and Torjae Tanksley before heading toward the restaurant. Jones testified that Kenneth told the younger two that Graham got off at 10, asked whether they were ready, and was assured they understood the plan. Witnesses at trial described seeing two suspicious figures lingering near the employees’ cars after closing, one pacing and the other appearing to bother the vehicles. Graham was warned that someone was around his car, went outside, came back in, then returned again and attempted to leave. Moments later, shots rang out. Afterward, Jones said, Kendrick Green and Torjae Tanksley ran back to the getaway car, breathing hard and sickened, and Kenneth asked whether they had “handled that,” to which both answered yes. Jones also testified that Kenneth later admitted, “I off’d him,” and disposed of a gun in a swamp near I-520. Investigators recovered four 9mm shell casings at the scene, and four bullets had struck Graham’s car.
As for arrests and suspects, authorities ultimately identified four people in the case. The Georgia Supreme Court records show that on October 27, 2020, a Richmond County grand jury indicted Kendrick Green, Torjae Tanksley, Kenneth Green, and Ashley Jones on charges including malice murder, felony murder predicated on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Jones did not go to trial alongside the others; instead, she testified for the prosecution under an immunity agreement. Kenneth Green, Kendrick Green, and Torjae Tanksley were jointly tried in October 2023. Prosecutors said Kenneth Green, described as the organizer, had recruited the younger two to carry out the murder. All three men were convicted, and the district attorney’s office said each received a life sentence. Kenneth Green Jr. was sentenced to life without parole plus 25 years, while Kendrick Green and Torjae Tanksley each received life without parole plus 5 years. The case continued into the appellate courts, but on September 30, 2025, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Kendrick Green’s convictions, leaving the verdict intact.
