$3M settlement after a 15-year-old was killed at an apartment complex entrance
A former security chief said the gate didn't work and guards were told to protect the property, not the residents.
Settlement amount $3M As reported. The source gives a rounded figure, not exact dollars. State Court of DeKalb County · October 2018 · DeKalb County, Georgia
The former owners of a South DeKalb County, Georgia, apartment complex agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit over a January 2016 shooting near the complex’s entrance that killed a 15-year-old and wounded a 27-year-old man.
Police described the shooting as an attempted robbery. A man was convicted of murder and robbery in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison.
The families sued in DeKalb County State Court, claiming lax security contributed to the shooting. A former security chief said the entrance gate didn’t work and that guards were told to protect the property rather than the residents. A former employee said in an affidavit that guards took a share of money from drug deals on the property. The complex had hundreds of code violations, and the owners sold it in 2017 after county officials threatened to demolish it.
The case settled in 2018, after about two years in court, as it neared trial. The money came from the former owners’ insurance policies. The exact settlement date was not reported.
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Not legal advice. Southeast Verdicts reports public court outcomes and news coverage. Parties are anonymized. Amounts are as reported at the time of the verdict or settlement and may have been reduced, appealed or not collected.
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