In a tragic turn of events on a Monday night in November 2016, 15-year-old Marquez Montgomery, a sophomore and football player at Benjamin E. Mays High School in Atlanta, Georgia, was fatally shot in the head at his home on Adkins Road. The promising young athlete, who also played baseball, was remembered by his uncle as a 'great kid' who was loved by his teachers and had dreams of attending the University of Georgia.
The shooting occurred while he was at home with his father, grandmother, and other relatives. In a heart-wrenching detail, Marquez was on a FaceTime call with his girlfriend at the moment the shot was fired.
The person responsible for the gunfire was identified as his 21-year-old cousin, Dontavious Montgomery. Following the incident, Atlanta police arrested Dontavious and charged him with felony murder, stating that the preliminary investigation indicated the victim was shot by the suspect with no provocation. The weapon used in the shooting was later reported to have been stolen from Henry County.
While authorities pursued a murder charge, family members maintained that the shooting was a tragic accident. They described the cousins as being very close and inseparable. Donterric Montgomery, an uncle to both young men, expressed the family's double loss, stating, 'It's not just one good kid being taken away from our family -- it's two.' He explained that Dontavious had a weapon the family was unaware of, and it discharged by mistake while he was sitting on a bed.
The case against Dontavious Montgomery was further complicated by his existing legal troubles. At the time of his cousin's death, he was out on a $100,000 bond for a separate murder charge from January 2015, in which he was accused of fatally stabbing Nicholas Roberts. He had spent nine months in jail before being released in October 2015. Following the death of Marquez, a Fulton County judge revoked his bond from the previous case. Dontavious Montgomery waived his first court appearance and had a grand jury hearing scheduled for February 22, 2017. The community mourned the loss of Marquez, with Atlanta Public Schools providing grief counseling for students and staff at Mays High School, and his football team and the wider community rallying to support his family with funeral expenses.
