GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — A Gwinnett County gang member has been sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 40 years for what prosecutors describe as a retaliation murder last summer.
Prosecutors say Dametris Bush shot and killed 29-year-old Andre Jones at the Horizon Inn in Norcross, just off Interstate 85 and Jimmy Carter Boulevard. They say Bush believed Jones had stolen a gun from him.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson says gang members do not value life.
“If you are in a situation where you come up upon them and they think you did something to them, they’re not going to talk to you, they’re not going to try to reason it out, they’re going to kill you,” Austin-Gatson said.
Austin-Gatson also stated, “it doesn’t take much for these folks to devalue life. I think they don’t care.”
Prosecutors say Jones was not part of a gang and had no gang connection. Bush and others believed he had disrespected them and took revenge.
“The victim did not have a gang connection, but the gang he felt he did something that disrespected them; so they took revenge upon him,” Austin-Gatson said.
Managing Assistant District Attorney Ryan Smith said, “but the stealing of any property is not justification for death.”
Smith also stated, “the victim in this case lost his life to a senseless act of violence that happened in a split second.”
Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin described the motive as part of Gangster Disciples counterculture. “This isn’t turn your cheek, this is kill the offender,” Melvin said.
Prosecutors say Bush also hit an innocent bystander in the leg with a bullet. Bush was convicted of multiple charges, including malice murder and felony murder.
Austin-Gatson says she hopes the maximum sentence will send a message.
“We want to keep our community safe, so it’s not going to be tolerated here,” she said.
WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.
