Workers inside a DeKalb County Popeye’s restaurant heard gunshots and called 911. When officers arrived, a man was lying face down beside his truck’s driver side. His wife of two weeks was on the ground on the passenger side. Both had been shot several times.
It's been 11 days since Alisha Watkins Stephens was killed and her husband, Michael Dale LaVigne, critically injured in the shooting. And though a teen has been charged in the case, a motive hasn't been determined, DeKalb police said late Thursday.
The shooting is still under investigation, but investigators believe the couple was targeted, DeKalb police spokesman Sgt. Jacques Spencer said.
While investigators continue their work, two families struggled for answers. LaVigne, shot seven times including four times in the head, is recovering at Grady Memorial Hospital. Stephens' family, including her three children, gathered for the 35-year-old newlywed's funeral Thursday in Stone Mountain.
LaVigne’s mother, Donna White, had only recently met her new daughter-in-law. “They were so in love, just googly over each other,” White said.
On Thursday, White left her son’s hospital room to attend the funeral for Watkins. She took video of the service to show her son .
Stephens’ sister, Teresa Dean, said she had not met her sister’s new husband. She said as adults, the sisters led different lives, but still kept in touch.
After the Oct. 22 shooting, Dean got the phone call that changed everything.
Police told her that shortly after 9 p.m., Stephens was shot to death outside the Popeye’s restaurant on Panola Road, near Lithonia. Stephens’ husband LaVigne, 32, had also been shot multiple times, but survived.
The following day, DeKalb police arrested 19-year-old Carlos Rodriguez and charged him with murder. He remained Friday in the DeKalb jail, where he was being held without bond.
Police do not believe there any additional suspects, Spencer said.
Dean hadn’t met her sister’s new husband and said the two hadn’t known each very long. She isn’t sure why the couple went to a Lithonia-area Popeye’s. Stephens lived in Fairburn, according to her online obituary, and LaVigne lived in Stockbridge, according to the incident report police released following the shooting.
Dean didn’t always know what was going on in her sister’s life, she said.
“We lived two totally different lifestyles,” Dean said. “She would call and check in and tell me that she loved me.”
She said they hadn’t had the easiest of childhoods. But even when they felt alone, Dean and her older sister always had each other.
“It was just me and her,” Dean told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Our mom and dad both passed away.”
The sisters were raised by their great-grandparents, but they also passed away while the girls were still teenagers.
Dean wanted her sister to have a proper funeral, but didn't have the money for it. But as news of her sister's death spread, strangers began donating to an online Go Fund Me page.
“It’s such a blessing,” Dean said. “God has something good to come out of everything bad.”
Through the donations, Dean was able to pay for her sister’s funeral. Stephens’ three children, who live with their grandparents, were able to attend.
LaVigne’s mother said she instantly liked Stephens and was happy the two found each other.
White said her son doesn’t remember anything about the night he was shot. She said the couple wanted some chicken, and she can’t imagine how things turned violent.
“Why does anyone do such violent things?” she said.
LaVigne will likely need several surgeries, but they have been delayed while doctors focus on other complications, White said. Her son is lucky to be alive, and White said she’s relieved a suspect has been arrested.
“He tried to blow his head off,” she said. “God saved my baby’s life.”
LaVigne does not have health insurance and faces an extensive recovery, his mother said. A Go Fund Me page was also created for his medical bills.
For now, White said she is praying doctors will soon be able to begin removing the multiple bullets still inside her son’s body. It’s difficult to see him in severe pain, she said.
"I just want to make sure that the person who has done this, the person who murdered my brand new daughter-in-law and almost murdered my son, I want to make sure he stays in jail forever," White said.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact DeKalb police.
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