John Jefferson
Inset: Tyree Simmons (Gwinnett County Police). Background: In Town Suites hotel where he murdered a 64-year-old woman (WXIA/YouTube).
A jury in Georgia convicted a 27-year-old man for murdering his rival’s grandmother while she slept in her bed, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said.
Tyree Jaron Simmons was found guilty of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, first-degree criminal damage to property and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He killed 64-year-old Christine Walker at a hotel in Snellville, which is about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, on Feb. 22, 2022.
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Walker was living at the extended-stay motel with her 17-year-old grandson. The grandson told police Simmons pointed a gun at him during an altercation earlier in the day. The grandson went to the bathroom around 4:30 a.m. when several rapid-fire gunshots entered the hotel room, prosecutors said.
Bullets missed the grandson but hit Walker, who was sleeping in a bed, in the head, according to prosecutors. Paramedics pronounced her dead on the scene.
Cops interviewed Simmons who denied any involvement. After the hotel kicked him out, detectives found the gun hidden in the cooktop drip pan of the stove in the room where Simmons was staying. The Glock was equipped with a “switch,” which turns the semiautomatic weapon into an automatic by applying force on the trigger bar. Simmons in subsequent interviews with cops changed his story several times but continued to deny shooting anyone or having a gun, prosecutors said.
“Christine Walker was asleep when the defendant opened fire into her room,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a statement. “All she did was take responsibility for raising her grandson. She did not deserve to be murdered this way. The fact that he had a switch, which turned his semi-automatic handgun into an automatic weapon, makes this crime especially egregious. Our hearts pour out for Ms. Walker’s grandson and for her family and loved ones.”
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