Dec. 15—Two Gainesville teenage brothers charged with murder were buying $50 worth of marijuana from a man when one shot him in the chest after a scuffle ensued, an investigator testified Wednesday during a committal hearing.
Syn’sere Patton, 17, and Jamarco Patton, 16, were charged as adults in the Nov. 8 murder of Christopher Dixon, 25, who was shot once in the chest with a handgun.
The brothers are charged with felony murder, aggravated battery and aggravated assault.
Jerry Phillips, an investigator for the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, described the fatal shooting as a drug deal gone bad.
He said the shooting happened around 10:25 a.m. on 1331 Brown St. near the end of the home’s driveway, adding that the brothers lived nearby at Harrison Square Apartments with their mother.
He said after the brothers turned themselves in, the younger brother, Jamarco, told investigators that Syn’sere was the one who pulled the trigger.
“Jamarco said that Syn’sere tried to grab the backpack from Mr. Dixon and that there was a fight (that) ensued, and at some point Syn’sere shot Mr. Dixon,” Phillips said. He added that Jamarco said Dixon was on the ground when Syn’sere shot him.
Phillips said a woman drove Dixon to the location to sell the brothers $50 worth of marijuana, though she said she did not know she was driving Dixon to make a drug deal. Otherwise, she told him, she would not have brought her 7-year-old son, who was sitting in the backseat.
“They were there to buy seven grams of marijuana,” Phillips said. He said that’s what Syn’sere told investigators in an interview. “They went there together to buy some weed.”
He said it was the woman’s son who first called 911.
“Hello, somebody please help,” Phillips recounted the boy saying to the dispatcher.
He said the woman and her son told investigators that Syn’sere tried to take Dixon’s bookbag, then Dixon threw a strike and a fight ensued.
The boy told investigators that Sincere “hit (Dixon) in the top of the head with the gun, which caused Mr. Dixon to fall to the ground,” Phillips said.
He said he also spoke to a man who lived a few doors down from the brothers and who was sitting on his porch when the shooting happened. The man didn’t witness the shooting, Phillips said, but he heard a gunshot and then saw the brothers run into their apartment. Phillips said footage from a neighbor’s security camera confirmed the man’s account.
He said the brothers took the bookbag and fled to Atlanta in a stolen 2016 Chrysler 200c and turned themselves in the next day. The car was reported stolen around 6 a.m. hours before the shooting, he said, and there was a 9mm handgun in the car, which the brothers used in the shooting, he added. He said the car was located in a shopping center parking lot not far from where authorities picked up the brothers.
He said investigators have not located the gun but added that there was a 9mm shell casing in the grass near the 1331 Brown St. home. Syn’sere told investigators that he threw the gun across the street into the grass, Phillips said.
Syn’sere was represented by public defender Kyle Denslow, while Jamarco was represented by public defender Kelly Sullivan.
Sullivan grilled Phillips and suggested he didn’t have any evidence that Jamarco was anything more than a witness. She also said Jamarco had a clean record, saying, “This is Jamarco’s first arrest.”
She asked Phillips if he tested for gunshot residue on the brothers. He said he did not.
“Understanding how gunshot residue works, especially being outside, everything’s going to have gunshot residue on it,” he said.
“Explain to me what evidence you have that Jamarco was involved in any type of felony,” she said.
“He was involved in the altercation when the victim was shot,” he said.
“What evidence do you have that Jamarco had any knowledge of this set up?” she asked.
“Of this set up?” he asked.
“Yeah, if that’s what law enforcement’s claiming, that it was an armed robbery gone wrong, what evidence do you have that Jamarco knew anything about it?” she asked.
“He was there when it happened,” he said.
“So he was a witness, that’s the evidence that you have,” she said.
“I’m saying he was involved in the crime. After the crime was committed, he ran off …” he said.
“That’s after …” she interjected.
The judge interjected and let Phillips finish.
“Both of them ran off. After the incident happened, they both traveled to Atlanta,” he said. “If Jamarco was not part of this, why would he go to Atlanta?”
All charges were bound over to Superior Court.
