An Atlanta man has been found guilty of a notorious 2014 murder involving a drug deal gone wrong at a controversial college student housing site on Barfield Road in Sandy Springs.
Patricko Mondrez Davis, 23, was sentenced to life plus five years in prison, according to a Feb. 23 announcement from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. A jury found him guilty of felony murder and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony.
On July 24, 2014, Davis shot and killed Sandy Springs resident Tekeenen Williams, 23, at 6096 Barfield Road, which at the time was used as student housing by the Art Institute of Atlanta. Davis, an AIA student at the time, attempted to sell marijuana to Williams and two other people. After a dispute about the deal, Davis drew a gun and shot Williams five times during a struggle over the weapon, according to the DA’s Office. Williams collapsed in the parking lot of a neighboring office complex. Davis fled to California, where the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force found him.
The student housing, named “Sandy Springs at the Hub,” was already long controversial in the neighborhood for allegedly violating the zoning code and drawing a large number of police complaints. AIA withdrew all students from the complex about five months after the murder. It is now a hotel.